Educational Media Reviews Online

This documentary on Dutch artist Constant Nieuwenhuys (1920-2005), known simply as Constant, begins and ends, movingly, in his studio with “a final look at my final painting,” as he reflects on his life and work.

Constant counts among his early influences Cezanne, Cubism, and German Expressionism, which he learned about through books. Radicalized by his experiences during World War II and energized by an interest in primitive art, he and other artists founded the avant-garde Cobra movement in 1940s Europe. While living in Paris in the 1950s he turned his efforts toward a design series envisioning a futurist society which he called New Babylon. Returning to painting a decade later Constant looked to Titian, Delacroix, and Rubens for inspiration—never losing his own utopian vision; he would continue painting until the end of his life.

The film unfolds through reminiscences, conversations, music, poetry, archival footage, and final visits to places that held important memories, including the National Museum in Amsterdam which holds collections that span his career, and the Gallerie dell’ Accademia in Venice, where he had spent hours in the 1960s studying Titian’s La Pieta. Standing with his wife before this depiction of Jesus’ death, the artist remarks quietly: “I won’t be seeing it again.”

While Constant Nieuwenhuys may be far from a household name, the themes he wrestled with in his art resonate far beyond his own place and time. His work is emblematic not only of the turbulent twentieth-century in which he lived but of the larger human condition. Constant, Avant le Depart is an insightful and sensitive look back on a life as it draws to a close—in all its color and complexity. It is highly recommended for libraries with collections in the arts and broadly related subjects.

Awards

• Netherlands Film Festival, 2006, Best Cinematography