Reiger met zijn kop naar achter gedraaid 1891 - 1941

This study of a heron with its head turned backward was made by Leo Gestel, but we don’t know exactly when. It’s interesting, right? It looks like it might have been made with ink, quickly, with a kind of shorthand or sketchiness that really gets the point across. You can feel the artist figuring out how to capture the bird’s elegant, cranky pose with simple lines and tones. I wonder what Gestel was thinking about when he made this? I imagine him observing the animal, simplifying its form, and trying to show its character in a few, decisive strokes. He leaves so much to the imagination! And as a painter myself, I know these kinds of studies are like warm-ups, or visual notes that feed into bigger paintings. It's like the painter is in a conversation with the world, always looking, responding, and translating what they see into something new. Gestel’s heron reminds us that painting is an act of seeing and thinking.