Karel Appel's Economical Impact

Karel Appel and some other young painters, set up the Dutch Experimental Group in Amsterdam in 1948. That same year, on November 8, The Cobra group is founded in Paris and consists of Dutch, Danish and Belgian painters.

In February 1951, Cobra had it's first exposition in Paris. Appel however breaks with Cobra in 1952 and a year later develops a friendship with Martha Jackson, who holds the first American exposition in her gallery in New York, two years later.

A documentary film is made about Karel Appel as an artist in Paris in 1961, by the Dutch film director Jan Vrijman. It is called The Reality of Karel Appel, with music by Dizzy Gillespie and Karel Appel himself.

In 1964, he completely renovates the Château of Molesmes, near Auxerre in France and in the 70's he even records music compositions in collaboration with Chet Baker, Merrill Sanders and other musicians and singers in San Francisco.

A series of paintings are exhibited in 1982 at the Boulder Center for the Visual Arts, Colorado.

The Paris Opera commissions Appel in 1987 to conceive and design the ballet Can We Dance A Landscape?, which also is performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Next Wave Festival, New York, in 1989. That same year a mural is made with children of Hiroshima, for their city.

The ballet Can We Dance A Landscape? is performed at Het Muziek Theater, Amsterdam, in 1994. A year later, commissioned by the Dutch Opera, Appel creates the scenic concept for Mozart's The Magic Flute.

At Karel's 80th birthday in 2001, the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; the Cobra Museum, Amstelveen and the Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague hold exhibits showing his works.

In 1999, the Karel Appel foundation was founded. The purpose of the foundation is 'to preserve the artworks, to promote public awareness and knowledge of Karel Appel’s oeuvre and to supervise publication of the Oeuvre Catalogue of the paintings, the works on paper and the sculptures.'

The foundation is established in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Paintings and pictures Copyright © Karel Appel Foundation.