Jan Appel is a Dapperstraat barber who shaves and cuts from dawn till dusk. He has a son who, when he dies, will inherit the barber shop, no lies! But young Karel wants to paint! He is encouraged by his uncle and goes out into the world with his box full of paint stuff. He attends the art academy and develops an ever more expressive style. At first, his wild paintings cause outrage. Appel and his friends Corneille and Constant affiliate themselves with like-minded abstract artists from Belgium and Denmark. Appel spends the majority of his career in Paris and New York.
“I just mess about,” is one of Appel’s well-known quotes, and yet Karel Appel is seen internationally as one of Holland’s most famous and loved modern painters — a painter who continued to reinvent himself throughout his life.
