Lodewijk (Louis) Franciscus Hendrik Apol was born in The Hague on 6 september 1850.

At fifteen years old he became the apprentice of the painter Hoppenbrouwers. Charles Rochussen, the teacher of Breitner also frequented the workshop of Hoppenbrouwers and the young Apol must have learned a lot from watching these two masters work together and the discussions between them. After Hoppenbrouwers passed away, already in 1866, the cattle painter Pieter Stortenbeker took over as the young Apol’s teacher. 

Louis Apol showed a remarkable talent and already at 25 one of his pieces, a sunset in a snow covered forrest called ‘An Evening in January’, was exhibited in the Rijksmuseum. Apol had a clear preference for the winterscene, this became his specialty and he painted countless pieces.

What immediately catches the eye in most of Apol’s work is the lack of figures. The characteristic skaters, sleds and koek en zopie stands, so typical of the Dutch winter landscape are mostly absent. The emphasis is on nature, the atmospheric feel of winter, the illusion of coldness and space, of a brillant or threatening sky, the hard frozen soil and snow, lots of snow.  Occasionally, Apol differed from his loved winterscenes and painted a summery moorland or river  landscape.

One of the most remarkable events in apol’s life was his partaking in an expedition to Spitsbergen on the polar schooner Willem Barentsz in the summer of 1880. The ship stranded on a reef. After throwing overboard all ballast, they managed to get the vessel off the reef, but the situation remained perilous. The expedition was aborted and they sailed back to Hammerfest. Sixteen years after this expedition, the director of the Panorama in Amsterdam commissioned Apol to paint his impressions of Nova Zembla on a few large canvases. The exhibition of these pieces drew thousands of people. A few years later, Apol also traveled to the United States, a big trip in those days.

Louis apol moved to Roosendaal, close to the city of Arnhem from 1886 till 1892, where he got married. He kept on returning to the Hague though, his hometown, where he passed away on 22 november 1936.

Anoniem, 'Louis Apol', Kunstkronijk NS 17 (1875), p. 15; J. Gram, 'Lodewijk Franciscus Hendrik Apol', Elsevier's Geïllustreerd Maandschrift 2 (1892), p. 544-564; A.C. Croiset van der Kop, 'A painter of winter, Louis Apol', The Art-journal (1893), p. 353-356; J. de Vries, 'Louis Apol', Eigen Haard (1897), p. 152-156; A. Brunt, 'Een praatje over Louis Apol', Op de Hoogte 6 (1909), p. 727-734; Anoniem, 'Louis Apol', Eigen Haard 62 (1936), p. 769 en 775-778; J. de Gruyter, De Haagse School, deel 2, Rotterdam 1969, p. 88-89; Chr. Wright, Paintings in Dutch Museums, London 1980, p. 10; V. Hefting, Schilders in Oosterbeek, Zutphen/Arnhem 1981; R. de Leeuw, J. Sillevis, Ch. Dumas, cat.tent. De Haagse School - Hollandse Meesters van de 19de eeuw, Parijs (Grand Palais), Londen (Royal Academy), Den Haag (Haags Gemeentemuseum) 1983, p. 76, 83, 90, 127; D. Desjardijn, Grafiek in Nederland, de 19e eeuw, Amsterdam 1985, p. 153, 157; J. Ubbens, 'Louis Apol (1850-1936) en zijn foto's', Tableau 11 (dec.1988), p. 49-50 I.Th. Leijerzapf, 'Louis Apol', in: I.Th Leijerzapf [red.], Geschiedenis van de Nederlandse fotografie in monografieën en thema-artikelen, afl. 9, 1988; M.E. Spliethoff, E. van Heuven van Nes, M. Jansen en P. Rem, Koningin Wilhelmina. Schilderijen en tekeningen, Zwolle 2006, p. 126, 138, 140; T. Andratschke, J.J. Heij, R. van der Linden-Beins, C. Aman, Max Liebermann en zijn Nederlandse kunstenaarsvrienden, Hannover, Assen, Zwolle 2006, p. 98, 122, 140; J. Kapelle, S. de Bodt e.a., Magie van de Veluwezoom, Arnhem, 2006, p. 184, 192, 193; M. van Heteren, R-J te Rijdt e.a, Willem Roelofs 1822-1897. De adem der natuur, Bussum/Oss/Rotterdam 2006, p. 75; M. Jonkman, E. Geudeker, Mythen van het atelier. Werkplaats en schilderpraktijk van de negentiende-eeuwse Nederlandse kunstenaar, Zwolle 2010, p. 149

De Haagse School; Hollandse Meesters van de 19de eeuw, Parijs (Grand Palais), Londen (Royal Academy), Den Haag (Haags Gemeentemuseum) 1983

Work by Louis Apol is represented in the collections of diverse museums, among others the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam and the Hague Gemeentemuseum, The Netherlands.