Born above his father’s barber shop in Amsterdam, Karel Appel would become one of the most influential sculptors, poets and painters, with a love of expressive colours and bold figurative abstraction of the post-war era. His uncle had given him his first box of paints for his 15th birthday, and he was hooked.

During the Second World War, he applied to the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam to avoid military conscription. He befriended fellow artist Corneille and, due to family disapproval and the threat of forced labour in Germany, he left home.

His first solo exhibition was in 1949 in Groningen. Inspired by Picasso, Matisse, Klee, Miró and Dubuffet, he drew heavily on children’s art and the rejection of formal aesthetic traditions. ‘To paint is to destroy what preceded,’ he said.

In 1948, Appel co-founded the CoBrA movement (Copenhagen–Brussels–Amsterdam), rejecting rationalism and geometric abstraction. His early work was controversial, and he moved to Paris in 1950 before gaining international success through extensive travel.

He lived in New York for a time and exhibited at the Martha Jackson Gallery in 1954. He was embraced by American jazz musicians who persuaded him to paint their portraits. His work was shown widely in Europe and the United States throughout his life. He died in Zürich in 2006. Appel’s works can now be seen in major museums, including MoMA, the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.