The works by the Hungarian master, Karl Stengel, are divided into two major groups that are seemingly quite different from each other: the large canvases dominated by colour, of strong emotional and lyrical abstract expressionist impact, that have their roots sunk in post-war American and European informel experimentation and in some pre-war Russian avant-garde art, and then the surreal representations of a smaller size on paper, with a more markedly European ancestry, in particular German Expressionism. The works are all very original and of great impact, and are united by a rare merit: they all have absolute artistic identity but at the same time have strong cultural roots in the history of art of the twentieth century.
