Portret van Matie breiend

Constant and his partner Matie van Domselaer, who would become his wife in 1942, lived at Sarphatipark 42 II (Bollandpark for the Germans),  in Amsterdam during the Second World War: from 1943 until 1945. During the war, artists were required to register with the Reich Chamber of Culture to be allowed to continue their practice. Constant did not register and would therefore hide in the crawl space between his floor and the floor below him, during raids (razzia's). Matie sat on a chair, placed on the crawl space hatch covered by a rug, and knitted as if nothing was out of the ordinary.