News of: Wednesday, June 08 2005,

Amsterdam (COBRA) painter Corneille placed under guardianship

A French judge placed Mr Corneille under guardianship on request of his Russian wife, after a mental breakdown.

His apartment along the Amsterdam Prinsengracht canal has been emptied, and friends worry about what has happened. His whereabouts are currently unknown.

An art dealer has said Mr Corneille suffers from manic depression. An opening of an exhibition in March this year ended in a fight, after Corneille suffered a lapse in his disease.

Corneille was one of the founders of the REFLEX movement in 1948 and in 1949 he was also one of the founders of the COBRA group in Denmark, which has had great influence on Scandinavian art.
He is known for his very colourful art, nowadays very popular.

His work is exhibited in all major museums of modern art in the world.

In Amstelveen, a suburb of Amsterdam, is the Cobra Museum, which also has works by Corneille on display. The museum can be reached from Amsterdam Central Station by tram 5 - last stop 'Amstelveen Binnenhof', or metro line 51 - stop 'Amstelveen Centrum'.