Portret van Leo Gestel c. 1920 - 1941

This portrait of Leo Gestel lives at the Rijksmuseum. I wonder who made it? There’s a strange feeling looking at this photo. Gestel is pictured indoors, in front of a wall of books. But he’s not looking at the viewer; instead, he is looking off to the side. What does that mean? I try to sympathize with the unknown photographer: they probably wanted to capture his intelligence and creative energy, maybe while he was thinking about painting. What he was thinking? What was he trying to do? Did he think of the work of other painters, and how they inspired him? It’s funny how all art is about an exchange of ideas across time, inspiring one another’s creativity. Every portrait is so much more than a likeness. Every artwork is a conversation.