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Abstract paintings subject • artists • artworks for sale abstract in fine art

In Dutch post-war art, the exact representation of visible reality is definitively abandoned by many painters. Color and form are no longer in the service of the recognizable representation, but are independent means of expression. There is room for fantasy and experiment. The experience of the abstract work of art, stripped of reality as a point of reference, has become highly individual.

Demolition and construction
The emergence of abstract art around the First and Second World War seems to be linked to periods of destruction and reconstruction. Committed artists want a new art and a new society. Others look for the essence of things, the deeper reality behind the confusing multiplicity of the visible world. The abstraction, free from artistic traditions and social conventions, offers the opportunity to experiment with means of expression. Kandinsky, lyrical-abstract Orphism, Klee, the École de Paris, Mondrian, but also painters of De Ploeg are examples of this. After 1945, the Experimental Group, CoBrA and a number of young Amsterdam and Hague painters in particular form the face of abstract art in the Netherlands.

The A of CoBrA
In Amsterdam, after 1945, free experimentation is immediately reflected in the work of Karel Appel. He paints colorful human animal creatures and writes to his painter friend Corneille: "You shouldn't belong in a box (...) throw everything overboard". Corneille and Constant are also looking for a new visual language, just like Anton Rooskens, who in 1948 draws inspiration for his compositions from the "spontaneous", "primitive" art of South America and Africa. In 1948 they set up "The Experimental Group" together. Theo Wolvecamp and Eugène Brands join, as do Lucebert. At the end of 1948 Constant, Corneille and Appel are co-founders of the CoBrA group. And although the painters who belong to it soon go their separate ways - CoBrA is disbanded in 1951 - what binds them together is a common language: experimental, spontaneous and infinitely versatile in shape and color.

Children's drawings
For many artists, CoBrA was the inspiration to go their own way. Pieter Defesche, a member of the Amsterdam Limburgers, studied at the Amsterdam Rijksacademie shortly after the war. He absorbs the abstract expressionism of the CoBrA painters in lyrical compositions with the warm colors of the earth and the deep blues of the night. And a number of painters from The Hague, usually more modest than the Amsterdam painters, are seen as kindred spirits of CoBrA. Jan Roëde, for example, exhibits spontaneous work in 1948 that resembles children's drawings. He is asked to join the group, but he distances himself from the noise they are making. He develops his style in The Hague, in peace. Colors come first, then the shape. "I paint and don't know what it's going to be," he once said; with which he connects with Appel and his followers.

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Rik van Iersel | Untitled, oil on canvas, 99.8 x 85.2 cm, signed c.r. and dated '91

Rik van Iersel

painting • for sale

Untitled

Armando | Blau (Blue), oil on canvas, 79.9 x 60.0 cm, signed on the reverse and dated on the reverse 12-9-11

Armando

painting • for sale

Blau (Blue)

Eugène Brands | Mating butterflies, gouache on paper, 49.2 x 31.1 cm, signed l.r. and dated '63

Eugène Brands

watercolour • drawing • for sale

Mating butterflies

Pieter Defesche | Composition, oil on canvas, 59.0 x 74.9 cm, signed l.c. and dated 1960

Pieter Defesche

painting • for sale

Composition

Jules Chapon | Nice day for love, oil on canvas, 89.4 x 116.0 cm, signed u.l. and dated '67

Jules Chapon

painting • for sale

Nice day for love

Jaap Wagemaker | Spaanse aarde (Spanish earth), mixed media on canvas, 65.3 x 55.5 cm, signed l.r. and dated '56

Jaap Wagemaker

painting • for sale

Spaanse aarde (Spanish earth)

Theo Wolvecamp | Untitled, oil on canvas, 89.6 x 75.3 cm, signed on the reverse

Theo Wolvecamp

painting • for sale

Untitled

Karel Appel | Ppostcard to Simon Vinkenoog, gouache on paper, 10.0 x 16.0 cm, signed l.r. and dated '65

Karel Appel

watercolour • drawing • for sale

Ppostcard to Simon Vinkenoog

Karel Appel | Chat Libre, oil on canvas, 50.9 x 61.3 cm, signed l.l. and dated 1974

Karel Appel

painting • for sale

Chat Libre

Karel Appel | Untitled, acrylic on paper on canvas, 111.9 x 77.1 cm, signed l.r.

Karel Appel

painting • for sale

Untitled

Corneille | Woman with bird and snake, gouache on paper, 66.1 x 51.8 cm, signed u.l. and dated '77

Corneille

watercolour • drawing • for sale

Woman with bird and snake

Karel Appel | Untitled, acrylic on paper on canvas, 68.1 x 84.1 cm, signed l.l.

Karel Appel

painting • for sale

Untitled

Karel Appel | Toutes ces têtes, acrylic on paper, 68.6 x 52.1 cm, signed l.l. and dated '70

Karel Appel

painting • for sale

Toutes ces têtes

Lucebert | Javea, pencil, ink and wax charcoals on paper, 20.9 x 26.8 cm, signed l.l. and dated 5 V 71

Lucebert

painting • for sale

Javea

Will Leewens | Kosmos, oil on board laid down on panel, 32.0 x 52.0 cm, signed u.l. and dated '62

Will Leewens

painting • for sale

Kosmos

Willy Boers | Verloren stad (Lost city), oil on canvas, 75.2 x 59.0 cm, signed l.c. and dated '59

Willy Boers

painting • for sale

Verloren stad (Lost city)

Jan Roëde | Night train, oil on canvas, 46.7 x 55.5 cm, signed l.r. and dated '66

Jan Roëde

painting • for sale

Night train

Karel Appel | Happy Flight, lithograph on paper, 55.2 x 74.9 cm, signed l.r. and dated '57

Karel Appel

prints & multiples • for sale

Happy Flight

Marc Mulders | Parrot Tulips, oil on canvas, 60.5 x 40.5 cm, signed l.r. with initial and verso in full and dated on the reverse 25 04.02.

Marc Mulders

painting • for sale

Parrot Tulips

Jaap Wagemaker | Structure en sable, mixed techniques, 52.5 x 65.0 cm, signed l.r. and dated '61

Jaap Wagemaker

painting • for sale

Structure en sable

herman de vries | random objectivations (no V'74-106), plastic relief, 39.5 x 39.5 cm, signed on the reverse and executed in 1974

herman de vries

painting • for sale

random objectivations (no V'74-106)

herman de vries | random objectivations (no V'74-106), plastic relief, 39.5 x 39.5 cm, signed on the reverse and executed in 1974

herman de vries

painting • for sale

random objectivations (no V'74-106)

herman de vries | Untitled, reliëf on paper, 12.6 x 11.2 cm, signed on the reverse and dated on the reverse 17 II 61

herman de vries

painting • for sale

Untitled

Jaap Wagemaker | Peinture Noire, mixed media on canvas, 93.7 x 59.0 cm, signed l.r. and dated on the reverse '56

Jaap Wagemaker

painting • for sale

Peinture Noire

Jan Roëde | Untitled, oil on canvas laid down on board, 47.7 x 77.2 cm

Jan Roëde

painting • for sale

Untitled

Jan Roëde | Untitled, oil on panel, 29.0 x 62.0 cm, signed l.r. and dated '73

Jan Roëde

painting • for sale

Untitled

Eugène Brands | Landscape, gouache on board, 30.8 x 28.3 cm, signed l.l. and dated '73

Eugène Brands

watercolour • drawing • for sale

Landscape

Eugène Brands | Landschap met wolkenlucht (Landscape with cloudy sky), gouache on paper, 67.4 x 91.0 cm, signed on the reverse and dated on the reverse 16.I.1971

Eugène Brands

watercolour • drawing • for sale

Landschap met wolkenlucht (Landscape with cloudy sky)


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