Karel Appel

Karel Appel (1921-2006)

Karel Appel was a Dutch painter, sculptor, and poet. Appel was born in Amsterdam and showed an early interest in art, beginning to paint at the age of 14. During the German occupation from 1940 to 1943, Appel studied at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. In 1948 Appel joined CoBrA, a European avant-garde art movement coined by the Belgian poet Christian Dotremont from the initials of the members' home countries' capital cities: Copenhagen, Brussels, Amsterdam. The group was not popular in the Netherlands; as a result of this and a controversial mural Appel executed for Amsterdam City Hall in 1949, Appel found it necessary to leave the country. He developed his international reputation and lived in various countries, including France and America. Appel's work is held within the collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Stanford University Museum of Art, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Tate Modern, and the Museum of Modern Art.