Hand met fakkel voor bladeren Possibly 1940 - 1946

Curator: Well, this drawing is titled "Hand met fakkel voor bladeren"—"Hand with torch for leaves." It's attributed to Leo Gestel and thought to date from around 1940 to 1946. The work, rendered in pencil on paper, currently resides at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: Instantly, I feel this strange tension. It’s ghostly. Those repeating leaf-like shapes evoke a sort of melancholic freedom. The raised hand with the torch… it’s reaching, offering light, but into what? A swarm of memories, maybe? Curator: The hand holding a torch is undeniably symbolic. In art, the torch often represents enlightenment, hope, or truth. Juxtaposed with these delicate, almost frail, leaf shapes... I wonder if it’s a commentary on fragile hope during wartime, perhaps even referring to suppressed desires or thoughts escaping to freedom of speech? Editor: It certainly resonates with the unease of those years. The leaves, are they falling? Or flying away? There's an ambiguity there that haunts me. And the limited palette reinforces that sense of subdued anxiety, that sense of hidden energy ready to burst out any moment. The single fallen leave that separates from the drawing suggests isolation. Curator: The style also pulls us into this dualism. Gestel clearly explores symbolism with his geometric forms and monochromatic color choices. And as we analyze, those "leaves," in their repetitive geometry, create almost a field—or a flock of birds—that adds a certain ambiguity: are we invited to find one individual detail within the multitude, or to see the interconnected movement of all together. Editor: Exactly! It’s as if the whole thing might just flutter away any second, dissolving back into… nothingness? Yet, that determined hand with the flame remains, fighting the overwhelming flux. Makes me think about fighting to hold onto ideas of hope and change. Even small and simple ideas and wishes. Curator: Precisely. It captures a historical weight within its simple lines and forms. Seeing the overall picture brings our contemporary gaze back to history, revealing what might have stayed invisible if taken apart into pieces. Editor: For me, that trembling light piercing through a storm of uncertain outcomes makes a silent shout—an image deeply internalized into my subconscious. This artwork feels like a whisper of resilience and silent desire for a better future from the artist to me.