COBRA

Cobra was a European Avant-garde movement  active from 1948 to 1951. During the time of occupation of world war 2, The netherlands had been disconnected from the art world beyond its borders. COBRA was formed shortly thereafter. This international movement of artists who worked experimentally evolved from the criticism of western society and a common desire to break away from existing art movements, including detested naturalism and sterile abstraction. Experimentation was the symbol of an unfettered freedom. Which, according to constant, was ultimately embodied by children and the expressions of children. COBRA was formed by Karel Appel, Constant, Corneille, Christian Dotremont, Asger Jorn , and Joesph Noiret on november 8th 1948 in the cafe Notre-Dam. paris with the signing of a manifesto. "La cause etait entendue (The case was settled). Drawn up by Dotremont, Formed with a unifying doctrine of complete freedom of color and form, as well as modernism.

Their working method was based on spontaneity and experiment, and they drew their inspiration in particular from children's drawings, from primitive art forms an from the work of Paul Klee and Joan Miro.

Coming together as an amalgamation of the Dutch group Host and the Belgian revolutionary surrealist group. The group only lasted a few years bur managed to achieve a number of objectives in that time: the periodical COBRA, a series of collaboration between various members called Peintures-Mot and two large-scale exhibitions. The first of these was held at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. November 1949, the other at the Palas des Beaux - Arts in Leige in 1951.  

In November 1949 the group officially changed its name to Internationale des Artistes Expérimentaux with membership having spread across Europe and the USA, although this name has never stuck. The movement was officially disbanded in 1951, but many of its members remained close, with Dotremont in particular continuing collaborations with many of the leading members of the group. The primary focus of the group consisted of semi-abstract paintings with brilliant color, violent brushwork, and distorted human figures inspired by primitive and folk art and similar to American action painting . Cobra was a milestone in the development of Tachisme and European abstract expressionism.

Cobra was perhaps the last avant-garde movement of the twentieth century.^[6] According to Nathalie Aubert the group only lasted officially for three years (1948 to 1951). After that period each artist in the group developed their own individual paths.