Group formed in 1948 by artists from Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam and taking its name from the first letters of those cities. However, they welcomed the coincidental reference to the snake, since animal imagery was common in Cobra painting. They were also interested in the art of children. Leading members of Cobra were Karel Appel, Asger Jorn and Constant Nieuwenhuys (known simply as Constant). In style their painting was highly Expressionist. As a group they had active social and political concerns. Cobra held a major exhibition in 1949 at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam under the title International Experimental Art, but the group dissolved in the early 1950s.