Bille, Ejler (1910-2004). Danish painter, graphics artist, sculptor and writer. Bille was one of the pioneers of Danish abstract art, and one of the most important artists in the 20th century. He was co-founder of the artistic group "Linien" (the Line), 1934, an artist union working in abstract and surrealistic styles. Later Bille became member of the CoBrA movement. On the whole Bille was self-taught apart from one year of study at the School of Sculpture at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. Together with Richard Mortensen he visited Berlin in 1931, where he studied the works of, among others, Kandinsky, the same year he exhibited for the first time at The Autumn Exhibition for Painters in Copenhagen. In the mid 1930s, together with Richard Mortensen and Egill Jacobsen, he introduced abstract art to Denmark. In the 1930s he used abstract-surrealistic forms in his painting and executed organic sculptures. Bille experienced an artistic breakthrough while living in Paris (1938-39), which became of crucial importance to his artistic career, henceforward he mainly worked with paintings and created abstractions existing of a vast number of masks and bird-like beings - a warm shining colouring emphasized the harmonic and poetic characters of the compositions. In 1945 Bille published "Picasso, surrealisme, abstrakt kunst" (Picasso, Surrealism, Abstract Art). In 1960 he received the Eckersbergs Medal, and in 1969 the Thorvaldsen Medal, in 1981 he became honorary member of The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. His works have been shown in several countries and are represented in Denmark at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, North Zealand, The National Gallery in Copenhagen, Holstebro Art Museum, Jutland and KUNSTEN - Museum of Modern Art Aalborg.

Appel, Karel (1921-2006). Born i Amsterdam, the Netherlands, died in Zurich, Switzerland. Dutch abstract expressionist painter, graphic designer, illustrator, sculptor and ceramic artist. Trained at the "Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten" in Amsterdam, 1940-43. His first solo exhibition was held in 1946 at Beerenhuis in Groningen. 
Appel was influenced by Picasso, Matisse and later Jean Dubuffet. He was a member of "Nederlandse Experimentele Groep", the authors, editors, and publishers of the journal Reflex. He was one of the founders of the CoBrA movement and put his signature to the manifesto in Paris in 1948 together with e.g. Constant and Corneille. In 1949 he completed a fresco for the restaurant of the city hall of Amsterdam, which generated great polemic and was covered up the next 10 years. He moved to Paris in 1950, where the writer Hugo Claus introduced him to Michel Tapié, the organizer of many exhibitions including exhibitions of Appel's works. In 1954 he received the UNESCO Prize at the Venice Biennale and was commisioned to execute a mural for the restaurant at the Stedelijk Museum in 1956. The following year he traveled to Mexico and the USA and won a graphic prize at the Ljubljana Biennial in Yugoslavia (now The Republic of Slovenia). In the late 60s he moved to the Château de Molesmes southeast of Paris. During the 50s and 60s he executed a great number of murals for official buildings. In 1972 he traveled in South America, Mexico, India, Nepal, Indonesia and Japan. In 1974 he tested various materials such as plastic foam.
In 1976 a collaboration with Pierre Alechinsky led to a series of works on paper which were published along with poems by Hugo Claus in the book entitled "Two Brush Paintings". In the 80s Appel executed a series of stained glass paintings. In 1987, after many years of exploring nudity in painting and drawings, Appel worked with live models, instead of deriving his forms from the fantasy.
His third period of sculptural production began in the early 90s where architecture, painting and sculpture were combined, the result was a total work of art or Gesamtkunstwerk (a Baroque-term).
Together with the Japanese dancer and choreographer Min Tanaka Appel had created scenic concepts for opera performances in France and the Netherlands e.g. Mozart's "The Magic Flute".
From 1997 Appel lived by turns in Toscana, Italy, where he painted landscapes, and in the US continuing his work with sculptures.
His works has been exhibited in all major museums of modern art in the world. In 2004 he solo-exhibited at Herning Museum of Art, Denmark.