Guillaume Corneille Beverloo, better known as Corneille, was born in a Dutch family in 1922, in Liege. In 1929, the family left Belgium and moved to Amsterdam, where the young Corneille quickly became interested in painting. From the age of 18, he joined drawing and print classes at the Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam. Nevertheless, he judges his formation to be too academic and decides to pursue his own pictorial explorations. Over the years, he created a specific thematic vocabulary, dominated by primordial forces: the stars, the clouds, the sea, the land.

In 1946, he held his first solo exhibition in Holland. The following year he exhibited his works in Amsterdam with Karel Appel. Then, he was invited to exhibit his paintings in Budapest, where he meets Jacques Doucet and discoveres the works of Paul Klee and Vassily Kandinsky. From that period, he becomes interested in the topic of organic elements, which inspires him to create the series of "gardens" that he exhibits in Europa Iskola.

Back in the Netherlands, in 1948, he participated in the creation of the dutch experimental group Reflex along with Karel Appel, Eugene Brands, Constant Nieuwenhuis, Anton Rosskens and Theo Wolvencamp. They combine their different contributions, publish the magazine Reflex and organize a collective exhibition in Amsterdam.

The same year, in opposition to the Surrealism movement, created by André Breton, which Corneille considers to be too theorizing, Corneille takes a journey to Paris, where he co-founded the group CoBRA in response to the quarrel between abstraction and figuration, alongside with Asger Jorn, Karel Appel, Christian Dotremont and Constant Nieuwenhuys. They are soon joined by poets, painters and writers such as Jacques Doucet, Alchinsky, Heerup, Reinhoud, Else Alfeldt, CH Pedersen Egil Jacobsen, CO Hultén, Anders Osterlin or Max Walter. Wishing to return to the primary sources of creation, they will look for artistic forms spared by the standards and conventions of the west culture, such as totems and magic signs of primitive cultures, oriental calligraphy, prehistoric and medieval art. They also discover intact parts of their own culture, such as forms of Nordic folk art, primitive art, naive art, and creations of children or mentally handicapped. This was a plea for a conscious regression, a return to the archetypal image which, it seems, remained buried in the depths of the subconscious, a theory preached by the Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung.

For three years, "CoBRA" worked alone or in a collective. They created unique works, many print publications and organized workshops, debates and exhibitions, bringing together international artists. After the group disbanded, each actor followed a personal path, whilst still keeping in close contact with each other. Corneille then worked with many artists, including the writer Hugo Claus, one of his closest friends who was also CoBRA collaborator. He notably brings drawings, engravings or lithographs to the texts written by Claus. During this period, his style was very colourful and gushing.

In 1949, Corneille made ​​his first trip to North Africa, where he discovered the richness of Arabic and Berber civilizations. He travelled to many countries during his life, thus discovering various cultural areas. He discovered the Tunisian South in 1949. In 1952, he stayed in the Hoggar looking for Antinea, and in 1956-1957 he crossed Central Africa by car. This particular journey enabled him to understand the myths, beliefs and rites closely related to the signs. After traveling in South America in 1958, he went to Brazil and Cuba between 1962 and 1966. His many journeys fed him sources for his work, which had no equivalent in the artistic city of Paris during the years 50-60. Each trip was indeed an opportunity to meet new people, and to find new inspirations.

From 1950, Corneille moved to Paris, and then began to exhibit in major galleries such as galerie Maeght (1950), galerie Colette Allendy (1954), Galerie Ariel (1961). He also exhibited his works in New-York in Lefebre Gallery (1962). He exhibited in museums such as the Museum of Curacao (1954), the Palace of Fine Arts in Brussels, Belgium (1956) or at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in the Netherlands ( 1956 and 1960). From 1954-55, Corneille begins to work with new mediums; first with etching in Stanley Hayter's studio in Paris, then in ceramics with Asger Jorn, Wilfredo Lam, Matta, Enrico Baj and Fontana in Mazzoti's studio in Albisola. During his period, he recieved a honorable mention at Carnegie International in Pittsburgh and the year after, in 1956, he won the Salomon Guggenheim price for the Netherlands.

From 1961, Corneille began painting on the floor. His paintings, structured organically, borrowed their colors and materials from the mineral, which lead to its "geological period". He began a series of gouaches in 1962, which would be presented at special exhibitions in 1962, in the Galerie Mathias Fels, Paris, accompanied with texts by Hubert Juin, Jean- Clarence Lambert, Jean- Jacques Leveque, Lasse Söderberg and a second time in 1964 in the same gallery. There is a certain duality in the art of Corneille around the years 1960’s: its rigorous constructions are counterbalanced by great spontaneity and its rich color palette. 

From 1970, he returned to figurative art. His paintings in bright colors during this time present an idyllic world, almost childlike where birds, cats, women and suns are all present. This positive vision, both by the theme and by the colors, enabled Corneille to forge a unique and remarkable visual world, one that he declines on many products.

From the years 1980’s, Corneille presented his work during numerous exhibitions and develops its graphic work from the late 40's, which is then recognized internationally. Thus, between 1982 and 1992, several monographs are devoted to it. At this time he mostly painted colourfull figuratives characters such as women, cats or birds.

The years 1990's were marked by the appearance of his first sculptures in polychrome wood. In 1992, he made another trip to Africa to shoot a film, directed by Jos Wassink, which would be broadcasted on the occasion of the exhibition designed by Ronald A.R. Kerkhoven: Corneille, the African face, Museuon (The Hague).