Vrouw liggend aan het strand met een paard en enkele zeemeeuwen 1891 - 1941

Leo Gestel made this drawing of a woman reclining on a beach with a horse and seagulls, probably in the early 20th century, using graphite on paper. The beauty of a drawing like this lies in the openness of its process. Look at the pressure of the lines, how they vary as Gestel maps out the contours of the woman’s body and the horse’s musculature. The marks are tentative but confident, each one searching for the perfect form, not quite resolving into a finished image. This feels like a moment, suspended, between thought and being. The seagulls are a flurry of almost scribbled marks, contrasting with the smooth lines of the woman. It reminds me a little of Picasso’s neoclassical drawings, but with a distinctly Dutch sensibility. Gestel’s drawing invites us to appreciate the beauty of the unfinished, the potential inherent in every mark. Art isn’t about answers, it’s about the questions we ask along the way.