“Over the years I kept everything and anything from stuff and things that I came across during my life in trade, if they had emotional value to me. Always the simple goods and tools, from the farmers, the blacksmith, the carpenter, the baker and so on. I loved those things most in which I saw reflected the struggle for life very clearly.. ..old used up shoes, trousers, jackets, hats and children's vests, which I found in the rags, often patched up endlessly. (translation, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)”