Artist
Karel Appel
1921, Amsterdam–2006, Zurich · Amsterdam · New York · Paris
Karel Appel (Amsterdam, 1921 - Zurich, 2006) grew up in Amsterdam. His uncle, an amateur artist, gave him painting supplies for his fifteenth birthday. During the Second World War he enrolled at the Rijksakademie, partly as protection against forced labour.
In the summer of 1948 Appel, Constant and Corneille founded the Experimentele Groep Holland. That same year they established the Cobra movement (Copenhagen, Brussels, Amsterdam) in Brussels, an influential expressionist art movement that remained active until 1951.
Appel moved permanently to Paris in 1950 and gained international fame with his powerful, colourful paintings. His works are held in the collections of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, the Centre Pompidou and the Guggenheim Museum.
Biography via en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_Appel