Buste van een vrouw met opgestoken haar 1891 - 1941

Leo Gestel made this drawing of a woman with her hair up, and her gaze cast down, using I think graphite, maybe charcoal, on paper. I'm imagining Gestel working on this portrait, quickly laying down lines to capture the woman's likeness, and I feel the intimacy of the moment, like we're peeking into the artist's studio. The texture of the paper seems integral, becoming part of the portrait’s mood and quietness. I wonder, what was Gestel thinking as he drew? Was he focused on the details of her face, or was he trying to capture something more elusive, something about her inner life? It makes me think of other artists like Paula Modersohn-Becker, who also aimed to find new ways to see and represent the human form. I feel that artists are in an ongoing conversation, influencing and challenging each other across time, and it’s interesting to consider art as a form of expression that embraces ambiguity and resists easy answers.