Koeien en koeienkoppen 1891 - 1941

Leo Gestel made this drawing of cows and cow heads with crayon, and it's now at the Rijksmuseum. Look at the way he uses a kind of shorthand to describe these animals. It’s all about simple lines, a real economy of means. The marks feel quick and intuitive, like he's trying to capture the essence of "cow-ness" rather than a perfect likeness. I’m really drawn to the head of the cow at the bottom, the way Gestel loops the line around to suggest the soft, rounded form of the nose and mouth. It's a single, continuous gesture, so simple, yet it conveys so much. There's a real sense of movement and energy in the drawing, like he's trying to keep up with the cows as they graze and move about. You know, this reminds me a bit of Matisse’s drawings, that same commitment to simplicity and finding the most direct route to capturing a subject. It shows how art is like a conversation, artists building on each other's ideas.