Paris in the Belle Époque arrived in Montmartre at the turn of the century. Drawn by the reputation of Paris as the world capital of art, Pablo Picasso came from Barcelona in 1900 to share an apartment with the poet Max Ernst and began by painting the cabarets and prostitutes of the neighborhood. Amedeo Modigliani and other artists lived and worked in a building called Le Bateau-Lavoir during the years 1904–1909. In 1909, Picasso painted one of his most important masterpieces, "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon", in Le Bateau-Lavoir. Led by Picasso and Georges Braque, the artistic movement cubism was born in Paris. Henri Matisse came to
Constant Nieuwenhuys himself artistically and experimented with multiple techniques of art-making. He was inspired by Cubism, especially by Georges Braque. In 1946 his daughter Martha was born, followed by his daughter Olga in 1948. In 1946 Constant travelled to Paris for the first time where he met the young Danish painter Asger Jorn. The friendship between Jorn and Constant later formed the basis for the avant-garde movement CoBrA. July 1948 Constant founded Reflex "" with Corneille, Karel Appel and his brother Jan Nieuwenhuys. The first edition of the magazine "Reflex" was published with a manifesto written by Constant. For Constant art had