Corneille

Popping with color, Corneille’s Expressionist paintings revolutionized the conservative Dutch art world of the 1950s. A part of the CoBrA art movement from 1948–51 together with Christian Dotremont, Asger Jorn, Constant, Karel Appel, and Pierre Alechinsky, Corneille shared the group’s influences: children’s art, art created in psychiatric hospitals, folk art, and folklore. Vibrantly expressive paintings inspired by that combination include Memoires de CoBrA 2 (1950–2004). The artist, who also had an affinity for the styles of Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, and Paul Klee, shared a passion for color, form, and nature with Vincent van Gogh. Cats, birds, and women were recurring themes throughout Corneille’s career, often depicted in mythological settings as in Oiseau multicolore (1978) and China Suite I (2004). Having studied with Stanley William Hayter in the 1950s, Corneille produced prints as well as ceramics and sculptures in wood and bronze.