- 

Karel Appel made this oil painting in 1953, and it embodies the raw energy and defiant spirit of the CoBrA art movement. Focusing on the period after the Second World War, the CoBrA group sought a fresh visual language, one that rejected academic conventions and embraced spontaneity. Appel, along with artists from Copenhagen, Brussels, and Amsterdam, looked to sources outside the Western tradition, like folk art and children's drawings. The crude, seemingly childlike figures rendered in thick, impulsive brushstrokes aren't just aesthetic choices. They reflect a broader cultural desire to break from the past and explore new forms of expression. We can see an influence from the institutional history of the time, such as the progressive pedagogical approach in schools that put emphasis on the child's creativity. Appel's work challenges the viewer to reconsider what constitutes "art" and who gets to define it. Art historians consult manifestos, period writings, and exhibition reviews to understand better the original context of these artworks. The meaning of art is always contingent on its social and institutional context.