Karel AppelDutch, 1921–2006Des Animaux
May one see it?
Not receiving at present
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the painting
The CoBrA (mid-century European art movement) manifesto declared in 1948: "A painting is not a construction of colors and lines, but an animal, a night, a scream, a human being, or all of these." More than any other member of COBRA, Karel Appel's work embodies this tenet. Appel has often expressed his belief that art should be a conduit between the inner child, the spirit and freedom of the artist, and the outside world. With Des Animaux, he succeeded at re-creating the spontaneity and perpetual sense of discovery that are typical of childhood. Painted the year Appel first visited the United States and met Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, and Sam Francis, Des Animaux suggests two almost primordial animals swimming in thick whorls of oil paint. Appel clearly enjoyed playing and experimenting with the paint, which he layered and shaped both with brushes and his fingers.
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Particulars
- Accession number
- 1967.79
In the catalog
Sources
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Image: The Cleveland Museum of Art — © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Meanwhile, in the life of Karel Appel
The whole life1955
“Child and Beast II” in MoMA's “The New Decade”
His painting “Child and Beast II” (1951) was included in the influential Museum of Modern Art exhibition “The New Decade”, which featured twenty-two European painters and sculptors, among them newcomers such as Francis Bacon, Jean Dubuffet and Pierre Soulages.
1959
Grand Prize at the São Paulo Biennial
Appel received the Grand Prize at the São Paulo Biennial.
11 July 1959 – 11 October 1959
Exhibition: Documenta II
