Liggend vrouwelijk naakt aan zee met zeemeeuw 1891 - 1941

Leo Gestel made this pencil drawing of a nude woman by the sea with a seagull, and it looks like it was done on a page torn straight out of a lined notebook. Imagine Gestel, maybe sitting right there by the sea, quickly capturing what he sees, line by line. The lines are soft, gentle, like he’s feeling his way around the shapes, and they delicately construct the scene. There is a lovely contrast between the woman’s stillness and the seagull taking flight. What was he thinking? Was he trying to capture the freedom of the bird against the grounded presence of the woman? Or the interplay between the ephemeral and the eternal? The slight awkwardness lends it a quirky charm, like a half-remembered dream. Gestel was part of a generation of artists who were constantly pushing the boundaries of representation. They challenge us to look beyond the surface, to see the world with fresh eyes, like de Kooning or Guston would later do.