Buste van een vrouw met opgestoken haar 1891 - 1941

Leo Gestel made this drawing, Buste van een vrouw met opgestoken haar, with graphite, and it looks like he was really working those pencils. There's a gentleness here, you know? A soft touch. You can see the marks building up, layer upon layer, to create this woman's face and hair. It’s not about perfection, but about the searching, the finding, the feeling. See how the lines around her eyes aren’t quite perfect? It's like Gestel is feeling his way around her features, discovering her as he goes. The texture of the paper peeks through, giving it all a kind of raw, honest vibe. It reminds me of other artists like Paula Modersohn-Becker, who also had this knack for capturing the soul of their sitters with such simple means. It's not about flash, but about connection.