Primitivism, Fauvism, Surrealism, Expressionism, Realism, Abstract Expressionism and Art Brut are just some of the terms used when discussing the art of Karel Appel. Dutch painter, sculptor and ceramicist, he is probably the most recognized artist from the Netherlands in the second half of the 20th century. He was a member of the Nederlandse Experimentele Groep and helped establish the COBRA movement.

Appel is a varied artist. He has had numerous films made about him, has recorded musical collaborations with well-known musicians and singers, has collaborated with writers and poets in a series of visual poems and has been commissioned to create scenic concepts for multiple operas.

The reality of the painter Karel Appel is an overcrowded, possessed and frantic world, a barbaric age in which he can only paint as a barbarian - as he says in one of his films. His paintings are gaudy, his colors vivid and he slaps them on the canvas as if in a duel, using his brushes, paints, putty knife and his hands as weapons.

Appel’s work is found in major international collections, including:

Hofstra Museum at Hofstra University, New York
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Arizona State University Art Museum, Arizona
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art, Amsterdam
Van Abbemuseum, Netherlands
Washington University Gallery of Art, Missouri