Corneille Belgium — 1922

The Dutch artist Corneille created lyrical, expressionist paintings bursting with color and was one of the founders of the postwar European art movement known as Cobra. Corneille was best known for radicalizing the conservative Dutch art world in the early 1950s, making modern art not only acceptable, but embraceable as well. He placed familiar subjects — birds, cats, women and landscapes — in mythological and often childlike contexts, imbuing them with spontaneity and bright, sensual reds. "I am a painter of joy," Corneille remarked at a 2007 exhibition of his work at the Cobra Museum, said Katja Weitering, the artistic director of the museum, in Amstelveen, near Amsterdam. "He was really an artist for all people," she said. "He was open to the audience; he appeared in documentaries, on television, and frequently visited exhibitions. It's safe to say we consider him one of the most important modern artists of the postwar." In the Netherlands, she added, his fame and influence derived from the appeal of Cobra. Born Guillaume Cornelis van Beverloo to Dutch parents on July 3, 1922, in Liège, Belgium, Corneille was influenced by Miró, Picasso and Paul Klee but claimed the most profound connection to van Gogh because of their shared passion for color, form and nature.