Little Moon Men 1946

Karel Appel created these Little Moon Men with a rich, tactile application of oil paint. It’s a painting that announces itself as a thing made. The surface is built up, rough and uneven, full of texture. You can see the gestures of the artist, how he pushed and pulled the paint, maybe with a palette knife or a heavily loaded brush. The monochromatic palette – mostly blues – lends a dreamlike quality. Look closely, and you'll see how the drawn outlines of the figures add to that sense of otherworldliness, like pictograms found on an ancient wall. These lines aren’t precise. They wobble and stutter, giving the forms a playful, almost childlike quality. Appel, like his contemporary Asger Jorn, evokes a primitive energy and raw expression. It’s like they’re saying, “Art doesn’t have to be polite; it can be a scream into the void, a messy, beautiful, and deeply human act.”