Skelet van een paard 1891 - 1941

Curator: Here we have 'Skelet van een paard' – 'Skeleton of a Horse'–a drawing in colored pencil, sketched sometime between 1891 and 1941, by Leo Gestel. What strikes you when you first see it? Editor: Death! Stripped bare. The horse appears to be decaying right before our eyes, like an anatomical study meets an existential nightmare. It is raw, honest, and surprisingly touching. Curator: That raw honesty, I think, comes from the way Gestel marries figuration with a skeletal structure, it's not just representational, it’s revealing the underpinnings, quite literally. The strokes themselves add another layer – their simplicity gives it a very grounded feel, despite the grim subject matter. Editor: Absolutely, consider the line work. The energetic yet spare strokes create the volume, emphasizing the interior space through absence and shadow. Semiotically, the lines almost act as indexical signs of a physical presence that is disappearing, making the image less about "horse" and more about mortality itself. Curator: And there’s something beautiful in that too, isn’t there? The landscape isn’t grand, the horse isn't living, yet there is a strangely compelling beauty here. It speaks of endings, but perhaps also new beginnings. Maybe that’s a stretch? Editor: Not at all. I find that, structurally, Gestel used a very minimal tonal palette: it contributes to a very earthy almost sanguine presentation. These warm browns and ochres that bring warmth out, even amid the skeleton. I wonder if it is, perhaps, symbolic to an afterlife in nature? Curator: Or it could even just be a meditation. Death might be final but the bones and traces can last lifetimes and even longer if preserved, and remind us that existence has value, no matter how brief or how complete. It might just remind you how fragile things are, what a tender subject Gestel chose, wouldn't you agree? Editor: Well, pondering about semiotics and color symbolism will only carry me so far...Ultimately, for me, Gestel's skeletal horse is both a study in form and a profound contemplation on being and nothingness. Thank you for opening my eyes.