Wielerwedstrijd 1891 - 1941

Editor: Leo Gestel's pencil and paper drawing, "Wielerwedstrijd," made sometime between 1891 and 1941... it's such a quick sketch, almost frantic. It captures a landscape, maybe, with what looks like cyclists at the bottom. What jumps out at you when you look at this? Curator: Oh, the chaos of speed, definitely! It's like Gestel caught a fleeting impression, a blur of movement rather than a precise rendering. Don't you think it almost feels like a memory of a race rather than a scene directly observed? All those energetic, scribbled lines. Makes you almost feel the wind. Editor: Absolutely. I see that. Memory... But how does this style, so raw and immediate, relate to other works he might have done? Does it fit into a larger artistic movement? Curator: Good question. You know, he later transitioned to styles that were more expressionistic and even abstract. So this, in a way, anticipates his evolving interest in conveying subjective experience over objective reality. Notice how little detail he gives us – just enough to suggest a feeling of speed, a landscape flying by, that poster that’s all scrawled but that we know probably provides the source of income and enticement of spectators? Editor: I see. So, in a way, the sketchiness is the point. It is less about accurately depicting a bike race and more about capturing its essence or emotional impact. Curator: Exactly! It’s as if he's whispering, "This is how it *felt*," not necessarily how it *looked*. What I see is an artist experimenting, pushing beyond the constraints of pure representation towards something more…sensory, more felt. It is the anticipation of things to come. Editor: I didn’t think about that but you are totally right. Now that I look at it through that lens, the drawing makes total sense. Thanks so much.