Work

After the Second World War, Constant starts to experiment with a cubist painting style. Of the two founders of cubism, Picasso and Braque, Constant feels more akin with the latter. It is often said that the cubist work of Braque maintains a sense of balance and harmony while Picasso strived for disruption in his art. This still life is indeed a fine example from Constant's body of work of a balanced harmony of shapes, as seen in Braque's cubism. For another example, see Portret van Matie [II], 1946.

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).

Circa 1944.