Information

1921
Born in Amsterdam, The Netherlands on April 25th.

1939
As a young artist he is influenced by Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass and later by Comte de Lautréamont's The Songs of Maldoror and the teachings of Krishnamurti.

1942 - 1944
Studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Amsterdam.

1946
Visits Denmark, where he meets the Danish painters who will later become members of the Cobra group.

1947
Abundant production of works; Appel develops a new style of assemblage using elements of wood and found objects in relief, and introduces elements of narrative representation.

1948
On July 16, Appel and a group of young Dutch artists set up the Dutch Experimental Group in Amsterdam.
The Group publishes the periodical Reflex and some months later merges with the Danish and Belgian artists to become the International Cobra group.  It is founded on November 8, at the Café de l'Hotel Notre Dame in Paris, by Dotremont and Noiret (Belgium), Jorn (Denmark), Appel, Constant and Corneille (The Netherlands). Later, Alechinsky (Belgium) joins the group.
At this time, Appel creates his objets poubelles (rubbish objects). These junk and found objects usually centre on a theme, which is openly poignant and characteristically expressionistic. For example, in the Vragende Kinderen (Questioning Children) of 1948-49, the innocence of children's masks confronts an oppressive and hypocritical society.

1949
Publication of the periodical Cobra, edited by Jorn and the Belgian poet Christian Dotremont. Jorn also publishes a series of small monographs under the title Bibliothèque de Cobra. 
Like Dubuffet, Appel and the Cobra artists reject the enlightened and rationalist western past, and momentarily shelve their faith in reason, due to the destruction of civilized values in World War II (thus echoing the Dadaist response after World War I). Like Dubuffet, Giacometti, and Bacon as well, the Cobra group pursues astonishingly diverse formal explorations as a comment upon the human condition rather than the abstract pictorial values, which had so oppressively dominated the post-Mondrian, Constructivist era in Europe in the late thirties. The Dutch Cobra painter, Constant, wrote: "We were aware that we had cut ourselves off from the past and enjoyed unfettered freedom. Only primitive people, children, and psychopaths could reckon on our sympathy". 
In May, the three Dutch founding artists return to Paris, where the French painter Jacques Doucet introduces them to the Colette Allendy Gallery. 
Appel becomes close friends with Dotremont, whom he continues to see until Dotremont's death in 1978. 
Appel repeats the theme of Vragende Kinderen in the mural for the cafeteria of the Amsterdam City Hall. After public outcry, the city council orders the mural to be whitewashed. Architect Aldo van Eyck publishes Een appèl aan de verbeelding (An Appeal to the Imagination) in defense of Appel's work. For ten years the mural remains hidden under a layer of wallpaper. 
“International Exhibition of Experimental Art”, the first Cobra exhibition in Amsterdam is held at the 
Stedelijk Museum organized by Willem Sandberg and designed by architect Aldo van Eyck.

1950
The turning point for the Cobra movement takes place when Michel Ragon becomes their spokesperson. In Paris, Ragon organizes the first exhibition of the Cobra group at the Librairie 73 in February 1951, followed by a show at the Galerie Pierre two months later. 
Together with Constant and Corneille, Appel leaves Holland and settles in Paris, where they meet the Danish painter Jorn. 
Foremost among Appel's friends during his Parisian period is Hugo Claus, the Flemish poet, novelist and playwright. In 1962, Claus writes an extensive study on Appel's work, published by Harry Abrams Inc., New York.

1951
Appel meets the avant-garde art critic Michel Tapié, who curates a show at the Nina Dausset Gallery in Paris including American artists such as Pollock and DeKooning and other European painters such as Dubuffet, Wols and Hartung. Tapié later introduces Appel to the Martha Jackson Gallery in New York. 
Appel participates in the exhibition entitled Significance of the Informal organized by Michel Tapié. 
As compensation for the covered mural in the Amsterdam City Hall, the city counsel commissions Appel to paint the foyer of the auditorium of the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, thereafter known as “Appel-bar”.

1952
In breaking with his Amsterdam youth, Appel rapidly detaches himself from the Cobra group and becomes part of a group of artists known as Art Informel or Art Autre. Centred on Michel Tapié, the group includes artists such as Henri Michaux, Willem DeKooning, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Jackson Pollock and Sam Francis. Appel is the only artist from the Cobra group. 
In the Art Autre period Appel’s associates are more often poets than painters.

1953
Martha Jackson visits Appel's studio where she buys several of his works. This marks the beginning of a relationship that continues for more than twenty years. 
He spends two summers in Albisola on the Italian Riviera, where he acquires the technique of ceramics. He makes a series of sculptures in terra-cotta, based on the human head.

1954
Michel Tapié organizes a one-man exhibition at Studio Paul Facchetti, Paris. 
First exhibition in America is held at the Martha Jackson Gallery, New York.

1955
Appel meets the architects Van den Broek and Bakema, who commission him to paint a 100 meter-long brick wall called Wall of Energy for the exhibition entitled “E’55” (Energy ’55) in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

1956
Commissioned by the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam to make a mural for its new restaurant, Appel uses stained glass for the first time. 
Later on the architect Bart van Kasteel commissions Appel to make six stained glass windows for the Kruis Church in Geleen, illustrating the Genesis.

1957
Travels to the United States and Mexico. Appel is already aquainted with the work of the Mexican painter Tamayo, whom he befriended in Paris, were they both lived. 
Meets the painters of the Abstract Expressionist avant-garde and is inspired by the jazz musicians, whose portraits he paints later that year: Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Count Basie and Sarah Vaughan.

1958
Commissioned by architects Breuer, Zehrfuss and Nervi, Appel paints Des oiseaux et des animaux, rencontre avec le printemps which is mounted as a mural in the restaurant of the UNESCO building in Paris.

1959
Commissioned by the Italian industrialist Paulo Marinotti, Appel makes a “mural” of cloth for the exhibition Vitalità nell'Arte at the Palazzo Grassi, Venice. 
Through the 60s and the 70s, Appel continues his collaboration with Van den Broek and Bakema and other architects on projects for private and public buildings. Some forty projects are related to architecture for which Appel used different techniques such as painted murals, marble and ceramic tiles, glass-in-concrete-reliefs and stained glass.

1960
While spending the summer on the estate of Jean Larcade in Nice, France (Appel's Paris dealer since 1955), Appel executes a series of sculpture from the roots of olive trees. These works are much more gestural than his earlier sculptures. His excited paintmarks make the surface of the exposed wood seem even more raw and are enough to transform the trunks into abstract sculpture.

1961
The Dutch film director, Jan Vrijman, makes a documentary film about the artist in Paris, The Reality of Karel Appel, with music by Dizzy Gillespie and Karel Appel.

1962
Publication of A Beast-Drawn Man, a portfolio with text by Bert Schierbeek and lithographs by Appel.

1963
Appel divides his time between Rome and Paris. 
He begins engaging in various experiments, such as inserting real objects in his paintings. These experiments with assemblage and mixed media pave the way for the lively and colourful sculptures, which he will later make. 
References to landscape constitute the second significant theme of his iconography, making folk art central to his imagination. 
Graphic elements linked to the technique of collage appear in several other works. 
Appel and Hugo Claus collaborate on a larger than life scaled book entitled Love Song published by Harry N. Abrams, New York.  The great kinship between Claus's literary work and Appel's pictorial oeuvre is evident in this collaboration.

1964
Acquires and completely renovates the Château of Molesmes near Auxerre in France.

1965
Begins large polychrome reliefs and free-standing figures made from cut-out plywood, which he assembles in layers, padding many with expanded polystyrene.

1969
Between 1969 and 1971, Appel undertakes a series of cut-out assemblages of painted wood on canvas which he calls "psychological relief-portraits".

1970
Records music compositions in collaboration with Chet Baker, Merrill Sanders and other musicians and singers in San Francisco.

1971
Makes his first large-scale sculptures in polychrome aluminum.

1972
Appel settles again in Paris. 
Throughout 1972 and 1973 he travels through South America, Mexico, India, Nepal, Indonesia, and Japan.

1974
Begins regularly employing extra-light materials, such as plastic foam and cubes of polyurethane which he carves, molds and paints, giving it the appearance of wood and the solidity of marble.

1976
Leaves the Château de Molesmes.
Creates murals with the shantytown residents of Villa El Salvador near Lima, Peru.  A color film is made of this event.
A collaboration with Pierre Alechinsky results in a series of works on paper which appear to be a complete symbiosis. These works are published together with poems by Hugo Claus in the book entitled Encre à deux pinceaux (Two Brush Paintings).

1977
Takes up residence in the South of France. 
Begins a series of paintings using a flat brush in rectangular strokes, rhythmically arranged across the canvas, depicting landscapes, still lifes, trees and later, figures. In these works Appel finds himself working with a new, more disciplined style of controlled, heavily emphatic and patterned brushstrokes.

1980
Appel begins his series of window paintings. In these compositions, he produces the most abstract and contemplative paintings to date. 
At the same time he makes several works using orange crates. These rather discrete and somewhat aesthetic works stem from his thoughts about painting.

1982
He collaborates with the writer José Arquelles and the poet Allen Ginsberg, in creating a series of paintings and visual poems, which are later exhibited as part of On the Road: The Jack Kerouac Exhibit" at the Boulder Center for the Visual Arts, Colorado.

1983
Begins a new series of paintings in which color has a vivid life, freedom and potency of its own, establishing a new theater of action; color generates form and subject matter and is liberated from drawing. 
The Gemeentemuseum Den Haag receives a large group of early drawings.

1985
Begins the Nude Series on paper depicting predominantly reclining nudes on a grand scale.

1987
The Paris Opera commissions Appel to conceive and design the ballet Can We Dance A Landscape?, which is performed in collaboration with the Japanese dancer and choreographer Min Tanaka and the Vietnamese composer Dao.

1988
During the summer, Appel visits China.

1989
Can We Dance A Landscape? is performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Next Wave Festival, New York. 
Collaborates with the children of Hiroshima to make a mural for their city.

1990
Collaborates with Min Tanaka at the Summer Art Festival in Hakushu, Japan.

1991
Creates Poetry-Painting Series with Allen Ginsberg and Gregory Corso. 
Appel's third period of sculpture production begins in the early nineties. They are a statement of his ideas and imagery, each a kind of "Gesammtkunstwerk", that is architecture, painting and sculpture combined. They are constructivist as well as expressionist and reveal a classical sense of dignity in their proportions.

1994
Commissioned by De Nederlandse Opera, Appel creates the scenic concept for the opera Noach by the young Dutch composer Guus Janssen, and the librettist Friso Haverkamp. Again he asks Min Tanaka to collaborate. 
Can We Dance a Landscape? is performed at Het Muziek Theater, Amsterdam. 
He takes up the theme of the nude in his paintings, focussing this time on the moving figure, the use of strong color in quick-tempered vigorous strokes, and on a condensed scale.

1995
Paints a series of landscapes from nature in Tuscany. 
Commissioned by De Nederlandse Opera, Appel creates the scenic concept for Mozart's The Magic Flute in collaboration with Min Tanaka, the director Pierre Audi and lighting technician Jean Kalman. 
A documentary film If I Were a Bird is made of the artist, directed by Mat van Hensbergen.

1997
Divides his time between Toscany, where he paints large scale landscapes and the United States, where he continues to make sculptures. 
Appel donates to the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam a group of sculptures from the Cobra period.

2000
Paints The Will to Power of the Planets, a series of paintings in which Appel primarily concerns himself with the luminacity of the light. This series is shown during the summer at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.

2001
Three Dutch museums, the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; the Cobra Museum, Amstelveen and the Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague celebrate Karel Appel’s 80th birthday with exhibitions.

2002
In a series of non-figurative paintings Appel continues on the theme of the landscape. At the end of the year he starts with a series of assemblages, by adding objects to the canvas or placing them on the floor. These three-dimensional works are characterized notably by the use of tree branches, or stuffed animals. He continues this theme until 2004. 
A second group of drawings has been chosen by the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag for its collection. 
As knowledge centre for Karel Appel’s work on paper , the Gemeentemuseum is keeping the 
greater part of Karel Appel’s own drawing collection as a long-term loan. 
Another group of sculptures (from 1991-1993) is added to the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

2003
Appel makes a series of paintings, titled Victory of Matter which are later shown at the exhibition at 
the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. Throughout his career he always occupied himself with the 
possibilities of matter. In 1961 he wrote “When I paint, matter is my point of departure, because it 
has been proven that matter is at least as rich in possibilities as the mind, if not richer”.

2004
Appel makes a series of paintings, titled Victory of Matter which are later shown at the exhibition at 
the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. Throughout his career he always occupied himself with the 
possibilities of matter. In 1961 he wrote “When I paint, matter is my point of departure, because it 
has been proven that matter is at least as rich in possibilities as the mind, if not richer”.

2005
Appel returns once more to the theme of Nudes which results in a series of 5 paintings to which he 
applies wooden constructions holding fluorescent lamps. This series is shown during the summer 
months in the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag.

2006
On May 3rd Appel dies at his home in Zürich.

Solo Exhibitions :
1953
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Karel Appel, October  31 – November 11, 1953. 
1954
Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, First American Exhibition, December 6 – 31,  1954. 
Studio Paul Facchetti, Paris, Appel,  May 28, 1954. 
1955
Galerie Rive Droite, Paris, Karel Appel, October 4 – 31, 1955.
Travelling to the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, November 1955. 
1957
Institute of Contemporary Art, London, Paintings Karel Appel,  April 5 - May 4, 1957. 
1958
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Appel, November 8 – 19, 1958. 
1961
San Francisco Art Museum, San Francisco, Karel Appel, West Coast Exhibiton, June 23 – July 23, 1961. 
Travelling to Pasadena Art Museum, August 1961. Phoenix Art Museum, November 1961. Santa Barbara Art Museum, December 1961. Seattle Art Museum, January 1962. La Jolla  Art Museum, February 1962. 
Stedelijk Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, April 29 - June 4, 1961. 
Travelling to the Haags Gemeente Museum, The Hague, The Netherlands, June - July, 1961. 
1962
Galerie Rive Droite, Paris, Karel Appel: Sculptures, 1962. 
1965
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Appel, June 25 - August 30, 1965. 
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Appel, September 16 – October 6, 1965. 
Städtische Kunstgalerie Bochum, Germany, Karel Appel. Gemälde, October 31 - November 5, 1965. 
1966
Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden, Karel Appel. Paintings 1947-65,  February 26 - March 27, 1966. 
1968
Centre National d'Art Contemporain, Paris, Karel Appel, Reliefs 1966-68. 
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Reliefs, November 14, 1968 - January 5, 1969. 
Travelling to Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, 1969. 
1970
Centraal Museum, Utrecht, the Netherlands, Appels Oogappels, September 4 - November 15, 1970. 
1972
Musée d'Art Contemporain, Montreal, Quebec, Appel's Appels, April 21 - May 21, 1972. 
New York Cultural Center, Appel’s Appels, July 25 - September 20, 1973. 
1974
Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Karel Appel Retrospective.
Travelling to Oklahoma Art Center, Oklahoma City and  Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona. 
1977
Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, Karel Appel , October – December 1977.
Travelling to Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela, Karel Appel, March 1978. 
1978
Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela, Karel Appel Retrospective, March 3 - April 9, 1978. 
Saarland Museum, Saarbrücken, Germany, Dreissig Jahre Karel Appel, March 16 - April 16, 1977. 
Travelling to Museum Van Bommel-Van Dam, Venlo, The Netherlands, September 9 - October 30, 1978. Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonn, Germany, April 12 - May 27, 1979. Kunsthalle Wilhelmshaven, Germany, July 11 - August 3, 1980. Kunstpavillonen, Esbjerg Kunstforening, Esjberg, Denmark, March 29 – April 27, 1980. 
1981
Museu de Arte do São Paulo, Brasil, Appel, July 17 - September 5, 1981. 
Travelling to Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, September 17 - October 25, 1981. Fondaçao Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, November 12 - December 6, 1981. Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid, December 1981 - February 1982. 
1982
Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, The New Work of Karel Appel, Paintings 1979-1981, January 23 - March 14, 1982.  
Haags Gemeente Museum, The Hague, The Netherlands, Works on Paper, January 23 - March 28, 1982. 
Travelling to Staatliche Kunsthalle, Baden-Baden, Germany, April 4 - May 31, 1982.   Städtische Galerie, Erlangen, Germany, April 13 - May 31, 1983. Fries Museum, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands, November 19, 1983 - January 8, 1984. Kunstforeningen, Copenhagen, Denmark, May 29 - July 1, 1984. Palazzo Medici- Riccardi, Florence, March 30 - May 12, 1985. Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden, May 11 - June 25, 1986. Musée des Augustins, Toulouse, France, June 20 - August 31, 1987. Henie-Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo, Norway, 1987. 
1984
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Karel Appel, Oeuvres Recentes, January 20 - March 4, 1984. 
1986
Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Recent Paintings and Sculptures: Clouds, Windmills, Nudes and Other Mythologies, October 1 - November 30, 1986. 
Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol, England, Karel Appel Paintings 1980-1985, October 18 - December 31, 1986. Travelling to the Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, Ireland, 1987. 
1987
Galerie d'Art Contemporain and Galerie des Ponchettes, Nice, France, Karel Appel. Peinture-Sculpture- Dessin, May 7 - July 15, 1987.  
Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy, Karel Appel. Dipinti, Sculpture e Collages, October 8 - November 11, 1987. 
1989
National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan, Karel Appel, January 5 - February 5, 1989. 
Travelling to the Seibu Museum of Art, Tokyo, February 11 - March 7, 1989. Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts, April 16 - June 11, 1989. Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, June 24 - July 23, 1989. Hakone Open Air Museum, July 29 - August 10, 1989. 
1990
Haags Gemeente Museum, The Hague, The Netherlands, Karel Appel, Ik wou dat Ik een Vogel was (Karel Appel, If I  Were a Bird), December 15, 1990 - April 1, 1991.
Travelling to Josef-Haubrich-Kunsthalle, Cologne, Germany, Die Meisterwerke,  June 12 - August 11, 1991.   Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain, Karel Appel, September 26 - December 1, 1991. Neue Galerie der Stadt Linz, Austria, Die Meisterwerke, April 2 - May 24, 1992. 
1993
Paleis Lange Voorhout, The Hague, The Netherlands, Singing Donkeys, New Sculptures by Karel Appel, February 17 - July 25, 1993. 
1994
The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea, A Retrospective by Karel Appel , April 23 - June 1, 1994. 
Travelling to Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Art, Taiwan, September 17 - December 4, 1994. 
1995
Kärntner Landesgalerie, Klagenfurt, Austria. Ich bin die Erde der alles entspringt, November 23, 1995 - January 28, 1996. 
Travelling to Moderna Galerija Ljubljana, Slovenia, February 6 - March 6, 1996. Die Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck, September 17 - October 13, 1996. 
1996
BAWAG Fondation, Vienna, Karel Appel. Gemälde, Gouachen, Zeichnungen 1950-1965, June 19 - August 31, 1996. 
1998
The Sculpture Garden @ 590 Madison Ave, New York, Sculptures Without a Hero, March 12 - June 15, 1998. 
Atelier del Bosco di Villa Medici, Rome, November 26, 1998 - January 11, 1999. 
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Psychopathological Art,  November 7 -  29, 1998.
Travelling to Cobra Museum, Amstelveen, The Netherlands, December 4, 1998 - February  21, 1999. 
1999
Bergen Museum of Art, Norway, Toys from the Attic, February 25 – May 5, 1999. 
Travelling to Municipal Museum of Art, Reykjavic, May 29 – August 30, 1999. Faroe Islands Art Gallery, October 9 – November 14, 1999. 
2000
S.M.A.K., Gent, Belgium, Recente sculpturen & gedichten, May 5 –  July  24, 2000. 
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, The Will to Power of the Planets Zomeropstelling 2000, June 10 – September 10, 2000. 
2001
Cobra Museum Amstelveen, Karel Appel, Beelden 1936-2000, April 26 – August 12, 2001. 
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Karel Appel, Pastorale Chiaroscuro, April 27 – June 24, 2001. 
Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, Karel Appel, Work on paper 1940 – 2000, April 28 – September 2, 2001. 
2002
Galerie Lelong, Zurich, Switzerland, Japanese Landscapes, March 16 – May 18, 2002. 
Galerie Ulysses, Vienna,  Mutation in Motion, September 3 – October 25, 2002. 
Kunstforum Wien, Vienna, Karel Appel, September 5 – October 13,  2002. 
Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, The Netherlands, Karel Appel: werken op papier, October 12 – November 24, 2002. 
2003
Galerie Lelong, Paris, Karel Appel: oeuvres sur papier 1999-2002, September 25 – October 31, 2003. 
2004
Galerie Ulysses, Vienna, Karel Appel. The Cobra Years, May 26 – July 30,  2004. 
JG Contemporary, New York, Karel Appel. New Works on Paper, October 14 – November 13,  2004. 
Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussel, Karel Appel. Onderweg. Reis van Rudi Fuchs langs de kunst der Lage Landen, October 13,  2004 – January 16, 2005. 
National Museum, Belgrado, Serbia, Paperworks of Karel Appel, October 20 – November 18,  2004. 
2005
Galleria Arte 92, Milan, Italy, Karel Appel: Opere 1991 – 2002, March 10 – July 9,  2005. 
Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, The Netherlands, Karel Appel. Recent works, August 20 – October 23,  2005. 
Galerie Ulysses, Vienna, Karel Appel. Paintings and Sculptures, September 10 – December 11,  2005. 
Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum, Bratislava, Slovakia, Karel Appel Retrospective,  September 11 – December 11,  2005. 
2006
Galerie Lelong, Zurich, Switzerland, Pierre Alechinsky & Karel Appel. Peinture à quatre mains,  June 1– August 31,  2006. 
Galerie Ulysses, Vienna, Karel Appel. Last Paintings, November 30,  2006 – February 24,  2007. 
2007
Albertina, Vienna, Karel Appel. Monumentale Aktzeichnungen, December 7, 2007 – February 3, 2008.  
Galerie Ulysses, Vienna, Karel Appel. Works on Paper 1949 – 2005, December 8, 2007 – February 3, 2008. 2008
Cobra Museum, Amstelveen, The Netherlands, Karel Appel. Jazz 1958-1962, February 8 - June 1, 2008. 
Galerie Ulysses, Vienna, Karel Appel. The Sixties, December 3, 2008 - February 20, 2009. 
Galleria Arte 92, Milan, Italy, Karel Appel: Opere 1990-2002, March 13 - June 28, 2008. 
2009
Galerie Lelong, Paris, Karel Appel. Peintures 2000-2001, September 4 - October 10, 2009.

Group Exhibitions :
1947
't Gildehuys, Amsterdam. Karel Appel en Corneille, January 1 - February 1, 1947. 
1948
Hostudstillingen, Copenhagen, International Experimental Art Exhibition, November 19 - December 5, 1948. 
1949
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, International Exhibition of Experimental Art, November 3 – 28, 1949.
Travelling to Hostudstillingen, Copenhagen, November 19 - December 4, 1949. 
1951
Dortmund Museum am Ostwall, Germany, Niederländische Maler und Graphiker des 20. Jahrhunderts, May 19 - June 17, 1951. 
Galerie Paul Facchetti, Paris, Significance of the Informal, November 10, 1951. 
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Liège, Belgium, Second International Exhibition of Experimental Art-CoBrA, October 6 – November 6 , 1951. 
1952
Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, The 1952 Pittsburgh International Exhibition of Contemporary Painting, October 16 – December 14, 1952. 
1953
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Younger European Painters. A Selection, December 3, 1953 - May 2, 1954. 
Travelling to Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. Portland Art Museum, Oregon. San Francisco Museum of Art, California. Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Texas. University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. The Dayton Art Institute, Ohio. Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusettes. Carpenter Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire. Dwight Art Memorial, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts. Davidson Art Center, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut. 
1954
Dutch Pavillion at XXVII Biennale, Venice. 
Städtisches Museum, Schloss Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany, Sezession 1954,  August 3 – September 11, 1954. 
1955
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Expressionism 1900-1955, 1955. 
Travelling to Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts. San Francisco Museum of Art, California. Cincinnati Art Museum and Contemporary Arts Center, Ohio. Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland. Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York. 
Museum of Modern Art, New York, The New Decade: 22 European Painters and Sculptors, May 10 - August 7, 1955.
Travelling to The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, September 21 - October 30, 1955. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, November 21, 1955 - January 7, 1956. The San Francisco Museum of Art, February 2 - March 15, 1956. 
1956
Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, Contemporary Dutch Art. 
Travelling to ten cities in the United States. 
1957
Tate Gallery, London, An exhibition of paintings from The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, April 16 - May 26, 1957. 
Travelling to the Haags Gemeente Museum, The Hague, The Netherlands. Ateneumin Taidekokoelmat, Helsinki, Finland. Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome. Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne. Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. 
Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, New York, Portrait Painters of the 19th and 20th Century. 
Travelling to Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland. Dallas Museum of Fine Art, Texas. Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. 
Tokyo, Japan, Art Autre. 
Travelling to Sala Gaspar, Barcelona. Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Madrid. 
1958
Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, Collection of Solomon R. Guggenheim.  
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, L'art neerlandais depuis Van Gogh (Dutch Art since Van Gogh),. 
1959
Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Vitalita nell'Arte, August – October, 1959. 
Travelling to Kunsthalle, Recklinghausen, Germany, October – December 1959. Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, December 1959, - January 1960.  
Museum of Modern Art, New York, New Images of Man. 
Travelling to The Baltimore Museum of Art.. 
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Inaugural Selection, October 21, 1959 - June 19, 1960.  
Kassel, Germany, Dokumenta II, July 11 - October 11, 1959. 
Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland, Appel, Mathieu, Moreni, Riopelle, January 24 - March 11, 1959. 
Travelling to Musée des Beaux Arts, Neufchatel, Switzerland, March 24 – April 12, 1959. 
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, School of Paris 1959: The Internationals, April 4 - May 17, 1959. 
1960
Museé des Arts decoratifs, Paris, Antagonismes. 
1961
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusettes. Famous Likenesses, March – August 1961.  
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Polariteit, July 22 - September 18, 1961. 
1963
Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Visione Colore, Il Centro Internazionale della Arti e del Costume, July – October, 1963. 
1964
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Van Gogh and Expressionism, July 1 - September 13, 1964.  
Dutch Pavillion at XXXII Biennale, Venice, Appel, Lucebert, Jaap Mooy.  
Kassel, Germany, Dokumenta III, July 11 - October 11, 1964. 
1965
Art Institute of Chicago, Four European Artists and the Figure, February 7 - March 7, 1965. 
1969
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Portraits in Contemporary Art. 
1971
Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois, The 31st Annual Works on Paper. 
1973
De Cordova Museum, Lincoln, Massachusetts, Primal Images: Appel, Calder, Dubuffet, Miró, December 16, 1973 - February 3, 1974. 
1974
The Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan, CoBrA and Contrasts, The Winston-Malbin Collection, September 25 - November 17, 1974. 
1980
Württembergisher Kunstverein, Stuttgart, Germany, Van Gogh bis CoBrA. Holländische Malerei von 1880 bis 1950, November 24, 1980 – January 18, 1981.
Travelling to Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonn, Germany, April 30 - June 8, 1981. 
1981
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, Paris-Paris 1937-1957, May 28 - November 2, 1981. 
1982
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, CoBrA, 1948-1951, December 10, 1982 - February 20, 1983. 
Travelling to Maison de la Culture de Chalon-sur-Saône, France, March 4 - April 17, 1983. Musee des Beaux-Arts de Rennes, France, April 29 - June 12, 1983. 
1984
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, La Grande Parade. Highlights in Painting After 1940, December 15, 1984 - April 15, 1985. 
1986
Niigata City Art Museum, Tokyo, 100 Years of Dutch Paintings. 
Travelling to Iwaki City Art Museum. Shimonoseki Art Museum. Tsukashin Hall, Amagasaki. The Seibu Museum of Art, Tokyo. 
Galerie Zacheta, Warsaw, Paris en Quatre Temps, November 15, 1986 – January 11, 1987. 
1988
Haags Gemeente Museum, The Hague, The Netherlands, Verzameling aan Zee. Works from the collection of the Haags Gemeente Museum.  
Musee National d'Art Moderne, Paris, Les Annees 50, June 30 - October 17, 1988. 
1991
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Towards a New Museum. Highlights from the Collection, June 27 - August 25, 1991. 
1992
Tate Gallery, Liverpool, England, New Realities. Art in Western Europe 1945-1968. 
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Parallel Visions. Modern Artists and Outsider Art, October 18, 1992 - January 3, 1993. 
Travelling to Museo Nacional Centro Reina Sofia, Madrid, February 11 - May 9, 1993. Kunsthalle, Basel, Switzerland, July 4 - August 29, 1993. Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo, September 30 - December 12, 1993. 
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Het Beeld van de Eeuw. 
Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain, Nice, France, Le Portrait dans l'Art Contemporain. 3 July -27 September, 1992.  
Paleis Lange Voorhout, The Hague, The Netherlands, The Interior, October 28, 1992 - January 24, 1993. 
Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo, Images of Man, Figures of Contemporary Sculpture. July 30 – August 24, 1992.
Travelling to Daimaru Museum, Osaka. Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan. 
1994
Tate Gallery, London, New Displays 1994. 
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Couplet 1, February 4 - April 20, 1994. 
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, l'Art au Pays-Bas au XXe siècle, March 24 – July 17, 1994.  
Musée National d'Histoire et d'Art, Luxembourg, CoBrA au Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, June 17 - July 31, 1994.  
Stedelijk Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, De Verzameling, October 22 - December 31, 1994. 
1996
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Munch and after Munch, or the Obstinacy of Painters, April 16 - September 6, 1996. 
Travelling to Munch Museet, Oslo, October 13 - December 15, 1996. 
Palacio de la Lonja, Zaragoza, Spain, Después de Goya. Una Mirada Subjetiva, (curated by Antonio Saura), November 19, 1996 - January 10, 1997. 
Capo di Monte Museum, Napoli, Prospettiva del passato. Da Van Gogh ai contemporanei, December 20 1996 – April 6, 1997.  
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, Face à l'Histoire, 1933- 1996, December 17, 1996 - April 7, 1997. 
1997
Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Art of the 20th Century, Flemish and Dutch Painting, March 15 - July 13, 1997.  
Musee cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland, Cobra . Art experimental 1948-1951. June 14 - September 14, 1997. Organized by Troels Andersen. 
Traveling to Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Münich , October 2, 1997 -January 11, 1998. KunstHaus Wien, January 29 - April 19, 1998. 
Castello Ursino, Catania, Italy, Art from the 20th Century. From the collection of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, July 26 - October 31, 1997. 
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, Made in France 1947 – 1997, January 30 - September 29, 1997.  
The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Cobra in Moscow. Cobra works from the collection of the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, April 25 - May 25, 1997. 
1998
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Rendezvous. Masterpieces from the Centre Georges Pompidou and the Guggenheim Museums, October 16, 1998 – January 24, 1999. 
1999
S.M.A.K., Gent, Belgium, De Opening, May 9 – December 5, 1999.  
Museum Sammlung Essl, Klosterburg/Vienna, Austria, The Essl Collection. The First View, November 5 1999 – September 30, 2000. 
2000
Les Jardins de Palais Royale, Paris, France. L'Homme qui marche, March 20 – June 20, 2000.  
Tate Gallery Liverpool, England, About Collage, April 7, 2000 – March 4, 2001.  
Hôtel du Département, La Roche-sur-Yon, France, Le musée du Xxe siècle de Michel Ragon, April 15 – July 9, 2000.  
Lange Voorhout, The Hague, The Netherlands, De mens in beweging (Sculptuur 2000), June 28 – September 12, 2000.  
Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, The Netherlands, Pleidooi voor intuïtie, November 11, 2000 – April 1, 2001.  
Cobra Museum, Amstelveen, The Netherlands, Het kind in Cobra, October 28, 2000 – January 28, 2001. 
2001
Park Sonsbeek, Arnhem, The Netherlands, Sonsbeek 9: Locus Focus, June 3 – September 23, 2001. 
Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Arnhem, The Netherlands, Present, June 3 – September 23, 2001. 
Städtische Galerie Bietigheim-Bissingen, Germany, Childhood and Modern Art, July 7 – September 16, 2001. 
2002
The Royal Academy of Arts, London, Paris: Capital of the Arts, 1900-1968, January 26 – April 19, 2002.  
De Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum in de Nieuwe Kerk no 1: Beelden 1947 > 2002, July 27– October 20, 2002. 
2003
Galerie Lelong, Zurich, Switzerland, Terrakotta-Arbeiten, February 8 – March 29, 2003. 
Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, England,Cobra: Copenhagen Brussel Amsterdam, March 1– April 1, 2003 
Travelling to City Art Gallery, Manchester, May 3– June 15, 2003; Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, July 3 – September 21, 2003. 
Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, Schiedam, Cobra de kleur van de vrijheid, March 29 – September 28, 2003. 
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Gogh Modern: Vincent van Gogh en de hedendaagse kunst, June 27– October 12, 2003. 
Cobra Museum, Amstelveen, The Netherlands, Cobra terug uit de Hermitage, October 18, 2003 – January 11, 2004. 
2004
Galerie Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland, Nordic Summer, July– September 2004. 
2005
Haags Gemeentemuseum; Fotomuseum; GEM, The Hague, The Netherlands, Hoogte x Breedte x Diepte (H x B x D) Rabo Kunstcolectie, February 25 – May 8, 2005.  
MARTa Herford, Germany, (my private) HEROES, May 7 – August 14, 2005. 
2006
Galerie Lelong, Zurich, Switzerland, Peinture à quatre mains, June 1 – August 21, 2006.  
Kunst-und Austellungshalle (KAH), Bonn, Germany, The Guggenheim Collection, July 21, 2006 – January 7, 2007. 
2007
GAM Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Turin, Italy, Collage/Collages dal Cubismo al New Dada, October 9, 2007 – January 6, 2008. 
Albertina, Vienna, Monet bis Picasso. Die Sammlung Batliner, September 14 , 2007 - April 6, 2008. 
2008
Fondation Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland, Action Painting, January 27 - May 18, 2008. 
Musée Luxembourg, Paris, Miró à Warhol. La collection Berardo à Paris, October 16, 2008 - February 22, 2009. 
Koninklijke Musea voor Schone Kunsten van België, Brussels, Cobra, November 7, 2008 - February 15, 2009. 
Museo de Zaragoza, Spain, Goya and the Modern World, December 17, 2008 - March 24, 2009. 
2009
Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg/Vienna, post COBRA: Alechinsky Appel Jorn, January 23 - May 17, 2009. 
Albertina, Vienna, Meisterwerke der Moderne: Die Sammlung Batliner, from May 29, 2009 (permanent exhibition). 
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Intensly Dutch: Image, abstraction and the word, post-war and beyond, June 5 - August 23, 2009. 
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, The Sweeney Decade: Acquisitions at the 1959 Inaugural, June 5 - September 2, 2009. 
Cobra Museum, Amstelveen, The Netherlands, Paris Central: European Masters of the 1950s, October 24, 2009 - January 17, 2010. 
2010
Institut Valencià d'Art Modern, Valencia, Painting on the Sea, The Sea as Pretext, Works from the IVAM Collection, March 10 - May 18, 2010. 
Palazzo Reale, Milan, Goya and the Modern World, March 18 - June 27, 2010. 
Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf, Le grand geste! International Painting from Pollock to Schumacher - Art Informel and Abstract Expressionism, 1946-1964, April 10 - August 1, 2010.