Appel, Karel (1921-2006)

Karel Appel, 1921-2006, Dutch painter and sculptor. Karel Appel is one of the most prominent representatives of the European abstract expressionist painting.

He was a co-founder and member of the Cobra group, 1948-51 and 1950-57 worked in Paris; from 1957, he has lived and worked in the United States, France and Monaco.

Karel Appel's early paintings are fabulous abstractions of people, animals and mythical beasts, painted in strong colors with an almost childlike sincerity. After Cobra's dissolution he continued without moderation worked with its motif the world; He gave immediate expression of his temper and his impulses, and with spontaneous vitality and intuitive sense of colour relationship, he painted with color pictures in large format semi-liquid commercial of a vibrant, dramatic effect.

Later paintings have gotten a calmer surface and a more restrained composition, from 1976, often with broad, uniform brush strokes in a simplified ornamentation and shaded gråstemte colors.

Karel Appel has released big Commisions for, among other things. The UNESCO building in Paris (1958), and he has done polychrome sculptures in wood and polyester, vægrelieffer and stained glass Windows for churches, ceramics, graphics and book illustrations. In Denmark, he took part in Harvest exhibition 1948 and 1949 and is represented on, among other things. Louisiana and North Jutland Art museum.