Guillaume Cornelis van Beverloo, better known by his artist name Corneille (1922–2010), was a Belgian-Dutch painter and graphic artist, as well as a co-founder of the CoBrA movement.
In 1948, Corneille undertook his first trip to Tunisia; over the course of his life, he travelled to the African continent on several occasions. His fascination with Africa and his intense engagement with its landscape and culture had a decisive influence on his characteristic visual language. The experience of the vast desert landscapes, the archaic expressiveness of masks and sculptures, and the vibrant colours of everyday life had a lasting effect on his artistic imagery.
Following the dissolution of the CoBrA group in 1951, his painting style changed: his compositions became calmer and more clearly structured.
Influenced by travels to Cuba, Mexico and the USA from 1967 onwards, his painting style transformed once more. After a phase of abstraction, he returned to figuration. His art is characterised by intense colour, free lines and recurring motifs such as women, birds and imaginary landscapes, unfolding a poetic, at times dreamlike universe.
1922: Corneille Guillaume Beverloo is born on 4 July in Liège, Belgium.
1942: Meets Karel Appel while studying at the Rijksakademie of Fine Arts in Amsterdam.
1946: Has his first solo exhibition at Beerenhuys in Groningen.
1947: First trips to Paris, Budapest and North Africa.
1948: Co-founds the art group CoBrA in Paris together with, among others, the painters Karel Appel and Constant. Co-founds the REFLEX movement.
1949: First CoBrA exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
1951: Corneille undertakes a trip to the Hoggar Mountains in southern Algeria, which has a lasting effect on his painting. The CoBrA group disbands.
1956: Receives the Guggenheim Netherlands Prize.
1962: First solo exhibition at the Lefebre Gallery in New York.
1966–1967: Retrospective at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
1972: Awarded the first prize of the Ibiza Grafic in Ibiza.
1975–1980: Trips to China, Indonesia and Japan.
1997: Retrospective at the CoBrA Museum in Amstelveen on the occasion of his 75th birthday.
1998: First retrospective in the German-speaking realm at the Museum Bochum.
2010: Corneille dies in a hospital near Paris on September 5th.
