Generative Art Timeline · Chapter 2: Modern Era (1850–1949)

1948

CoBrA Formed

Event · Europe

A large childlike figure with a blue face, red mouth and green body stands beside a small red-roofed house against a black background.
Karel Appel, The big kid, 1948. Chalk on paper, 44 × 55.7 cm. A work from the year CoBrA was founded. Karel Appel. Kunstmuseum Den Haag, collection 0181029. Reproduction photographer not identified by the museum. Image source.

Asger Jorn organized CoBrA with Karel Appel, Constant, Corneille, the writer Christian Dotremont and Joseph Noiret; Pierre Alechinsky joined the following year. Named after the first letters of the capitals of the founders’ home countries (Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam), CoBrA rejected rationality, individualism and classicism in art. Embracing collaboration and Surrealism, CoBrA also rejected the notion of the lone-genius artist, a stance echoed in the following decade by Victor Vasarely and GRAV.

Text by Peter Bauman. Generative Art Timeline, Le Random, fact-checked September 2026.

Sources

People

Asger Jorn, Christian Dotremont, Constant Nieuwenhuys, Corneille, Joseph Noiret, Karel Appel, Pierre Alechinsky, Victor Vasarely

Movements

Abstract Expressionism, Art Informel, CoBrA

Filed under

Ideas
Abstract Expressionism, Art Informel, authorship, collaboration, Surrealism
People
Asger Jorn, Christian Dotremont, Constant Nieuwenhuys, Corneille, Joseph Noiret, Karel Appel, Pierre Alechinsky, Victor Vasarely
Organisations
CoBrA, Groupe de Recherche d'Art Visuel (GRAV)
Places
Amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen

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