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Karel Appel was encouraged to paint by his uncle, who gave him a painting set when he was fifteen. From 1940 to 1943 he studied at the Rijksacademie in Amsterdam. Paintings from his early period are inspired by the work of George Breitner. During the Second World War, Appel began to paint more expressively, influenced by Van Gogh and the German expressionists and later Matisse and Picasso. In 1948, Appel was one of the founders of CoBrA (Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam) together with Corneille. The paintings of this group of artists are characterized by simple, spontaneous, expressive forms and bright colors inspired by children's drawings and primitive art. After the dissolution of CoBrA, Appel began to work with thicker paint and his work looks wilder.