Karel Appel (1921-2006)

Galerie Delorme, Paris
Private Collection, Belgium

Eindhoven, Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum / The Hague, Haags Gemeentemuseum, Karel Appel, April-June / June-July 1961, no.17
Issoudun, Musee Saint-Roch, Karel Appel, July-September 1987, pp.4, 13, illustrated

Lucebert and Bert Schierbeek, Karel Appel, Eindhoven 1961 (exh.cat.), no.17

In very good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

When Karel Appel painted his Paysages Humains around 1960, the important feauture was the movement of the landscape itself:...ik ontdekte de ruimte, daarna de leegte, de lege ruimte waar ik dynamisch de verf in bewoog, de actie in de ruimte (menselijke landschappen). Toen werkte ik vanuit het natte wit als ruimte-achtergrond, de onaffe ruimte die ik leerde kennen in New York waar men afbreekt en opbouwt. In deze tussenperiode leeft de mens..., as if the earth was still in creation, as if the hour of Genesis has come round again. In the graphic words of Hugo Claus: "A gash of cadmium red cuts through a mother-of-pearly white veined with sediments of colour and right away something violent is going on. It's not an explosion, rather a slow tearing apart. There's a shapeless mass full of streaks and flashes, a many headed immobile monstrosity that would like to break out into a winged flight but can only spread out in folds that whirl and swirl around and turn into roots and branches. Sometimes you get the impression of a sea with loose figures hanging in tentacular seaweed. Very seldom is there anything you can really grasp. (...) Appel went one step further than Van Gogh: he turned nature into his own image. And the image is that of a barbarian. (...) Appel painted landscapes that contain the explosive violence of the days that Michel Tapie called Appel's art ''un art autre".  Appel has now gone beyond the tragic. His red no longersymbolizes the blood and aggression that went with the fight for freedom, it speaks of the fullness of a life lived in freedom".

We kindly thank Mr Jan Nieuwenhuizen Segaar for his contribution to the research of this work