Art News

A Painting by Karel Appel has Been Donated to the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven

EINDHOVEN.- A portrait painted by Karel Appel of the former museum director Rudi Fuchs joins the collection of the Van Abbemuseum. Karel Appel (1921-2006) painted the Portrait of Rudi Fuchs in 2005, towards the end of his life, a period in which he experimented with the use of neon tubes. It was Karel Appel’s last wish that the painting would, in consultation with Rudi Fuchs, go to an appropriate museum. It was decided that this would be the Van Abbemuseum, where Fuchs had been director from 1975 to 1987, and where a reconstruction of his 1983 collection display is on view at this moment. The current director Charles Esche said: “We are very happy that we are able to include one of Appel’s latest paintings in the collection. The work clearly shows how important the relationship between the curator and the artist has become since the 1980s.”