Born in Liege, Belgium, Corneille returned to his parent’s home country in the Netherlands when he was 12, and studied art at the Academy of Art in Amsterdam. One of the founders of the REFLEX movement in 1948, Corneille was also a leader and founder of the CoBrA movement in 1949, an avant-garde movement which celebrated complete freedom of color and form. Active in the group from its inception, Corneille not only painted but published poetry in Cobra magazine as well. The artist was awarded the Guggenheim Netherlands Prize in 1956, and enjoyed numerous international exhibitions. Until his death in 2010, Corneille lived and worked in Paris, France.

Selected Public Collections:
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, USA
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA

Selected Solo Exhibitions:
Het Beerenhuis, Groningen, The Netherlands, 1946
Europai Iskola, Budapest, Hungary, 1947
Galleri Birch, Copenhagen, Denmark, 1950
Kunstkabinett Horemans, Antwerp, Belgium, 1953
Galerie Colette Allendy, Paris, France, 1954
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium, 1956
Galerie Le Gendre, Paris, France, 1959
Brook Street Gallery, London, UK, 1961
LeFebre Gallery, New York, USA, 1962
Gallerie Blanche, Stockholm, Sweden, 1963
Galleria del Naviglio, Milan, Italy, 1963
Guggenheim International, New York, USA, 1964
Galerie Stangl, Munich, Germany, 1965
Galeria Relevo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1966
Galeria Ivan Spence, Ibiza, Spain, 1969
Kunstverein, Salzburg, Austria, 1971
“Retrospective Tentoonstelling: Corneille” Museum vor Schone Kunsten, Ghent, Belgium, 1974
“The Quartier Rose of Amsterdam” Lefebre Gallery, New York, USA, 1974
Galerie Oriental, Geneva, Switzerland, 1978
Galerie Krikhaar, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1982
“Corneille” Gallerie San Carlo, Milan, Italy, 1998
“Traumbilder: Schumacker” Editionen Fils GmbH, Dusseldorf, Germany, 2001
“Corneil: errinnerungen 1941 bis 1951” Kunstverein Buchholz, Buchholz, Germany, 2003
“Corneille” Carl Hennign Pedersen og Else Alfelts Museum, Herning, Denmark, 2005