Influential COBRA artist Corneille dies at age 88

[September 07, 2010]  THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- A museum dedicated to the works of an influential European art movement says the group's last surviving Dutch member, Corneille, has died at age 88.

The Cobra Museum says Corneille, whose full name was Guillaume Cornelis Beverloo, died Sunday in Paris.

He was part of a small group that formed the COBRA movement in a Paris cafe in 1948 and which the museum says "developed a totally new poetic painting style."

His spontaneous expressionist paintings, influenced by the likes of Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro and Vincent van Gogh, often featured women and animals such as cats and birds.

The COBRA movement, named for the cities Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam, included Danish, Belgian and Dutch artists such as Carl-Henning Pedersen and Karel Appel.

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.