Twee grazende koeien en een paard 1891 - 1941

Leo Gestel made this drawing of grazing cows and a horse with graphite on paper. Gestel was a Dutch artist who lived through both World Wars, a time of significant social upheaval. Although undated, the style suggests this work was likely made during or after the First World War. Gestel was part of a generation that saw the rise of urban life in Europe, the decline of traditional rural ways of living, and the devastation of modern warfare. The image simplifies the animals to their essential forms, using light and shadow to suggest volume and presence. The rural subject matter reflects the Dutch artistic tradition of landscape and animal painting. Yet it also departs from it, because it's more abstract and modern than the traditional canon, seemingly in dialogue with the social and aesthetic shifts of the early 20th century. Art historians consult a range of sources, from exhibition reviews to the artist's personal correspondence to understand how artists negotiated the rapidly changing world around them. In this way, we can come to understand art as the product of particular social conditions.