Karel Appel Artwork valuations, appraisals and auction estimates

Karel Appel was born in Amsterdam in 1921. His education took place in Amsterdam, where he held his first solo exhibition in 1946. Read the full biography

Karel Appel Biography

Karel Appel was born in Amsterdam in 1921. His education took place in Amsterdam, where he held his first solo exhibition in 1946. Originally associated with the Dutch "Reflection" movement, in 1949 he became one of the founders of the "Cobra Group" together with Corneille and Jorn. From that day on, his activities were associated with the rapid spread of the movement in Europe and the numerous exhibitions dedicated to him. In 1953 he held a solo show at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels; in 1954 he exhibited for the first time at the Facchetti Gallery in Paris. Starting in 1961, American museums hosted three major retrospectives: Pasadena, Phoenix, Santa Barbara, and in 1965, museums in Gothenburg, Brussels, Amsterdam, and Stockholm. Recent exhibitions include: Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris (1968) and Art Gallery of Toronto (1973).

The strong expressionist charge of his paintings derives from the poetics of the Cobra movement: in Appel the suggestive force of the pictorial material, brutal and sonorous, rich and evocative, is given first and foremost. The early work in particular, under the influence of American action painting, added a declarative gesture of violence. More recent works have been increasingly oriented towards the restoration of the image: the dramatic charge of the first works seems to recede into a playful dimension of satire and into a more salient constructive commitment. Since 1968, assemblages have been cut into light-colored areas and, more recently, circular sculptures in stained and painted wooden dates.