This article appears in the publication 'Life's Work'; video portraits of nine artists born between 1913 and 1924 by Margriet Luyten (pp.135-149). The video portraits are shown in an exhibition in museum De Pont, Tilburg, Nov. 2013. Leo Delfgaauw, Douwe Draaisma and Peter Sonderen have contributed essays on the older artist, the staircase of life, the still life, transcience, oeuvre, mortality and eternity.