Grote vogel met vier kleine vogels in een cirkel 1939 - 1941

Leo Gestel made this small pencil drawing, Grote vogel met vier kleine vogels in een cirkel, on a thin piece of paper. It’s like a quick thought, a little visual poem jotted down. The big bird is outlined with a bold, confident stroke, almost like a paper cut-out. But then, below it, a flurry of tiny birds are scribbled in a circle. It’s messy, unresolved. The texture of the paper shows through, giving it a fragile feel. There’s something touching about the contrast between the decisive outline of the large bird and the chaotic energy of the smaller ones. It feels like a metaphor for freedom and constraint, or maybe just a study in different kinds of marks. It’s like Philip Guston’s clumsy, raw approach to drawing, where the process is right there on the surface. What do you think?