Denkende vrouw 1891 - 1941

Leo Gestel made this sketch of a ‘Thinking Woman’ with graphite on paper. Look at the repeated lines, the way the artist goes over the same marks again and again. It’s like Gestel is feeling his way through the form, letting the process of drawing guide him. The woman is hunched over, her face resting on her hand, lost in thought, and the energy of the drawing conveys a sense of internal searching. I like the way the shading is concentrated around the head and the hand. You can almost feel the weight of her thoughts pressing down on her. There’s a simplicity to the lines, but it creates something powerful. Her posture is full of introspection, and the overall effect reminds me a little of the sculptures of Rodin, of his interest in expressing the inner turmoil of the human spirit. It seems like Gestel is interested in a similar project of expressing interiority and emotion through the human form.