Born in Brooklyn, New York, Charles Appel is known for romantic landscapes and marine paintings in Tonalist and Impressionistic styles.

He was a pupil of Francis Luis Mora and William Merritt Chase at the New York School of Art and of Frank Vincent DuMond at The Art Students League. The major influence on his career, however, was George Inness.

Most of his life was spent in East Orange, New Jersey from where he was active in New York art circles and was elected a member of the Salmagundi Club in 1906.

He studied at the New York School of Art, New York City, with Francis Luis Mora and William Merritt Chase, and at The Art Students League, New York City, with Frank Vincent DuMond.