Drie koeien en een koeienkop 1891 - 1941

Leo Gestel made this drawing of cows with chalk and graphite. It’s like seeing Leo sketching right in front of you, isn’t it? There’s a raw immediacy to those dark, smudgy lines. You can feel the artist circling around his subject, trying to capture these animals on paper, their weight and form, their gentle grazing. I wonder, was he out in a field somewhere, squinting in the sun? Did he feel an affinity with these beasts? I love the way he hasn’t laboured over the details. He is all about the essence of the cow, its basic form, and humble presence. The strokes are rough, and yet they convey so much. I imagine him, quickly moving from one mark to the next, each line building on the last, as the cows stand patiently by, chewing. Gestel was part of a community of early modernists in the Netherlands, who were all responding to and learning from one another, as artists still do today. There’s a real generosity in this way of seeing, of sharing ideas and inspiring each other to create. Ultimately, painting and drawing are about embracing the unknown and finding meaning in the process itself.