Karel Appel

(Dutch, 1921–2006)

Karel Appel was an influential Dutch painter whose figurative abstractions employed expressive colors and forms. Like Jean Dubuffet, Appel found inspiration in the artwork of children and the rejection of sophisticated aesthetic tastes. “Painting, like passion, is an emotion full of truth and rings a living sound, like the roar coming from the lion's breast,” he reflected. “To paint is to destroy what preceded. I never try to make a painting, but a chunk of life.” Born on April 25, 1921 in Amsterdam, Netherlands, he went on to study at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten and had his first solo exhibition in 1946. Inspired by the work of Paul Klee and Joan Miró, Appel began experimenting with a rudimentary approach of describing subject matter reminiscent of folk art. In 1948, he helped form the CoBrA group (an acronym for the cities the artists were from: Copenhagen, Brussels, and Amsterdam), along with Asger Jorn, Constant, Corneille and others who were united in their rejection of rationalism and geometric abstraction. Following the dissolution of CoBrA in 1952, Appel joined Art Informel, another collection of abstract artists which included Michel Tapié and Henri Michaux. Through the following decades the artist continued his engagement with painterly expression and was the subject of several solo exhibitions. He died on May 3, 2006 in Zürich, Switzerland. Appel’s works are presently held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

Most Expensive Artwork Sold at Auction

Two birds and a Flower, 1951
Sold price: 1,098,772 USD

Karel Appel Artworks

Karel Appel (11,953 results)

Untitled, 1976

Karel Appel

Untitled, 1976

Sale Date: March 6, 2009

Auction Closed

Composition, 1958

Karel Appel

Composition, 1958

Sale Date: March 6, 2009

Auction Closed

Amsterdam clown (in 2 parts), 1978

Karel Appel

Amsterdam clown (in 2 parts), 1978

Sale Date: March 5, 2009

Auction Closed

Composition (+ another, 1969, smaller; 2 works

Karel Appel

Composition (+ another, 1969, smaller; 2 works

Sale Date: March 14, 2009

Auction Closed

Head in red I, 1974

Karel Appel

Head in red I, 1974

Sale Date: March 10, 2009

Auction Closed

Deux personnages, 1958

Karel Appel

Deux personnages, 1958

Sale Date: March 11, 2009

Auction Closed

Laughing frog and his friends in the Golden..., 1975

Karel Appel

Laughing frog and his friends in the Golden..., 1975

Sale Date: February 22, 2009

Auction Closed

Clown, tête bleue, 1970

Karel Appel

Clown, tête bleue, 1970

Sale Date: February 9, 2009

Auction Closed

Toi et moi (+ Untitled, figural composition; , 1963

Karel Appel

Toi et moi (+ Untitled, figural composition; , 1963

Sale Date: February 13, 2009

Auction Closed

Untitled (Two faces), 1970

Karel Appel

Untitled (Two faces), 1970

Sale Date: February 8, 2009

Auction Closed

Personnage en bleu

Karel Appel

Personnage en bleu

Sale Date: January 28, 2009

Auction Closed

Chien

Karel Appel

Sale Date: August 5, 2006

Auction Closed

Composition

Karel Appel

Sale Date: August 5, 2006

Auction Closed

Moving in the wind (from Sunshine People), 1974

Karel Appel

Moving in the wind (from Sunshine People), 1974

Sale Date: January 11, 2009

Auction Closed

Seeing eyes, 1975

Karel Appel

Seeing eyes, 1975

Sale Date: January 11, 2009

Auction Closed

Enfant et animal

Karel Appel

Enfant et animal

Sale Date: January 15, 2009

Auction Closed

Tête bleue

Karel Appel

Sale Date: January 15, 2009

Auction Closed

Figurkomposition

Karel Appel

Figurkomposition

Sale Date: August 26, 2008

Auction Closed

Abstrakt komposition, 1959

Karel Appel

Abstrakt komposition, 1959

Sale Date: August 25, 2008

Auction Closed

Komposition

Karel Appel

Sale Date: December 16, 2008

Auction Closed

Ohne Titel

Karel Appel

Sale Date: December 6, 2008

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1967–1968

Karel Appel

Untitled, 1967–1968

Sale Date: January 12, 2009

Auction Closed

Figuur, 1975

Karel Appel

Sale Date: December 13, 2008

Auction Closed

Floating windmill, 1986

Karel Appel

Floating windmill, 1986

Sale Date: December 13, 2008

Auction Closed

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