The Dutch expressionist Karel Appel (1921-2006) studied at the Royal
Academy of Fine Arts, Amsterdam (1940-1943). In 1948 he helped to create
 the Experimental Group in Amsterdam, which later formed the basis of
CoBrA. He moved to Paris in 1950 and has lived in France ever since.
During the late 1940s and early 1950s, Appel captured the postwar mood
of reconstruction and fresh beginnings by trying to see things with the
eyes of a child. Like Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985), Appel painted
monumental graffiti-like images of people, animals, and primitive
carvings, in which influences of late works by Klee, Miro, and Nolde can
 be detected. About 1953 Appel’s style became more painterly; the
figures formed part of a vilently swirling mass of bright paint, like
mythical creatures welling up from the unconscious. This
surrealist-automatic approach gave way in the 1970s to a more decorative
 style.