The artists' group Cobra (1948-1951) was the most important avant-gardemovement in post-war Europe following the Second World War. The foundingmembers came from Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands. They comprised,among others, Asger Jorn, Pierre Alechinsky, Constant, Corneille and Karel Appel,and their spontaneous and direct manner of painting, their rebellious theoriesand broad spectrum of creative expression inspired many other artists.The experiment was crucial to Cobra. The artists worke...

Willem Sandberg was a gifted designer and a pragmatic museum director, a doer

who achieved an incredible amount in the art world after 1945 and opened many

people’s eyes to contemporary art. He was an idealist who cherished the utopian

belief that contemporary art could play a self-evident and meaningful role in society

outside of its usual marginal and elitist position. At the same time, he was enough

of a realist not to harbour excessively high expectations of the result of his efforts.

H...