Acrylic on canvas
Signed upper right. With barely legible inscription on stretcher. 46 x 38 cm (18,1 x 14,9 in)

Accompanied by a written expertise from the Appel Foundation, Amsterdam, dated 26 January, 2011.

PROVENANCE: Private collection Netherlands.

Under the influence of the naive-grotesque "Art brut" of, e.g., Jean Dubuffet, Karel Appel's specific style began to develop from an early point on. It is characterized by a primitivistic figuration, pastose application of paint and a lucent coloring. Karel Appel's handling of the paint makes his artistic creation so unique. Appel does not enslave the paint, on the contrary, he submits to it. He let's the paint talk. Accordingly, the unmixed colors in their relief-like application also dominate this work. The unpretentiously set strokes of the brush effectively express the spontaneity that Appel propagated. The artist's psychological participation is just as well reflected as the quest for an archetypal choice of motifs and a childish creativity. [SM].