CoBrA – Powerful Voices of Post-War Europe

In November 1948, a small group of artists from Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands met at Hotel Notre Dame’s café in Paris. The artists included Asger Jorn, Christian Dotremont, Karel Appel and Corneille, who all shared the same thoughts on the role of art in society. Together, they founded the legendary art group with the powerful name of CoBrA – formed by the initials of the artists’ hometowns of Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam. The group also used the cobra snake as a symbol for their agenda, because they wanted to be seen as poisonous and aggressive in their attempts to break down the structures of the bourgeoisie, the norms of the time, propriety and capitalism. Seen in a larger perspective, the snake in many Western and non-Western mythologies is also the symbol of the cosmos, which fits with CoBrA’s openness towards the liberated societies post World War II, as well as the past and the future and new ways of thinking.

The artists’ central contribution to art history was the development of the spontaneous-abstract painting, which contained the notion of a living and liberating art working for the betterment of society. On paper, the group was only active from the end of 1948 until 1951, but the name followed the participating artists for the rest of their careers and touches a large number of other artists across Europe. Thus, although the formal period is short, the spontaneous and expressive approach to art defines the work of many artists across national borders and generations.

CoBrA grew out of two world wars, where a sense of balance at the global level had to be restored and the wounds healed. It was the sense of confinement and the accumulated longing for new sceneries following the war that blew the lid off the energy and imagination of an approach to art that transcended all boundaries. It was once again possible to travel freely and collaborate on developing dreams and formulating visions for a new world. CoBrA artists were connected in both words and deeds, and they became the guarantors of an artistic revolution in Europe. CoBrA’s colourful energy explosion is thus eternally relevant and reminds us that art, mobility, peace and freedom are privileges that we cannot take for granted, but which are worth fighting for in all contexts of life – including the world of art.

Asger Jorn – a Reckless Rebel

The Danish artist Asger Jorn (1914-73) is a central figure of post-war European avant-garde art. He was not only the leading force behind CoBrA – with his radical devil-may-care attitude and big ego he also became the group’s artistic rebel. 

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Christian Dotremont – The Poet of CoBrA

The Belgian artist Christian Dotremont (1922-79) found his special place in CoBrA as the group’s poet and philosopher. He formulated CoBrA’s manifesto “The Case Was Heard” during the inaugural meeting at the Hotel Notre Dame café in Paris in 1948, and he was the group’s primary spokesperson and secretary until 1951.

Read more about Christian Dotremont

Karel Appel – Freedom Above All Else

Dutch artist, sculptor and ceramist Karel Appel (1921–2006) trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam and was from the outset one of the main figures in CoBrA. He steered by the same principles of spontaneity, abstraction and expressive style, and came to be a living symbol of CoBrA – as the working-class rebel.

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Pierre Alechinsky – the Balance of Opposites

Pierre Alechinsky (b. 1927) joined the group as a mere 22-year-old artist who had yet to formulate an idiom of his own. He was therefore probably also the artist on whom CoBrA had the greatest formal impact. Alechinsky was particularly absorbed by the thinking surrounding the joint artistic work and in the publication of the group’s most important mouthpiece – the CoBrA journal.

Read more about Pierre Alechinsky

Corneille – The Painter of Joy

The Dutch artist Corneille (1922–2010) poetically described the idiom that he sought to emulate throughout his life. He began his career at the Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam in 1940, but after the war he left the deeply conservative art scene of his homeland in favour of Budapest and later Paris. It was during this time that he met the artists with whom he founded CoBrA in 1948.

Read more about Corneille

Sonja Ferlov Mancoba – An Uncompromising Fighter

Sonja Ferlov Mancoba (1911–84) is one of the few female CoBrA artists. In the years preceding World War II, she came across surrealism and travelled to Paris, where she rented a studio next to artist Alberto Giacometti, who became her lifelong friend and inspiration. Here, she became an important link between European avant-garde art and the Danish art scene.

Read more about Sonja Ferlov Mancoba