In May 1949, Constand and his family visit Asger Jorn on the Danish island Bornholm. A personal tragedy takes place when Constant's wife, Matie, leaves him for Jorn. She takes their two daughters Martha and Olga and leaves their only son, Victor, with Constant. 

Constant processes his heartache through his art: in Femme qui a blessé un oiseau avec une feuille morte, the bird represents himself and Jorn is depicted as a dead leaf.

Constant grew up in a Catholic environment and attended Saint Ignatius College, a Jesuit college in Amsterdam. In 1936 he painted his first oil painting and chose a religious subject: “The Emmaus Travellers”. Constant painted this work on an old burlap sack and used pigment from a house painter that he bought with his pocket money. Soon, other works of art with religious themes would follow. Not much later, however, he distances himself from the church and during WW II there is a definite break.

Circa 1982

Circa 1990.
Printed in Hollands Maandblad 1999 - 8/9, p. 49

Circa 1980.

Circa 1980

Circa 1980.