Dutch magic realistic painter, graphic artist and woodcutter, who probably suffered from the born with Tetralogy of Fallot with dextrocardia.
Because of his cardiac illness he was home-bound. He believed in two opposite worlds, which kept each other in balance, the world of “being”, the material world, in front of the “non-being” spiritual. In a letter (1932) to his fiancée Nel Schilt he wrote:
“Dat er meer is tussen Hemel en Aarde, ik denk hieraan zo dikwijls als ik stilleven schilder. Juist in deze dode dingen voel ik de aanwezigheid van het alomvertegenwoordige en ik betrap me erop, dat ik met liefde over deze dode voorwerpen kan denken en ze behandelen”.
Very Freely translated: That there is more between heaven and earth, I think often of this as I still-life painter. Especially in these dead things I feel the All Presence and I catch myself that I can think with love about these inanimate objects and I try to treat them with love when painting them.
His view of life was largely derived from his many letters between 1930 and his death in 1940 are formed the only contact with the outside world. As he was housebound because of his heart disease, increasing fatigue and various phobias, like agoraphobia and xenophobia.
He died 15 September 1940 in Bennekom of his heart disease.

Link to Wikipedia