Twee vliegende duiven boven de zee 1939 - 1941

Leo Gestel drew these two flying doves above the sea in 1920. He seems to have worked it out in pencil, and you can see the rubbings, the tracing and retracing, and the quick shorthand marks an artist makes when trying to get something just right. I really feel for him in a way. Drawing is like thinking, and it's kind of visible here, all those little corrections. I wonder if he was thinking about other artists who’ve drawn birds – like Picasso, Matisse or maybe a more traditional artist? The way he positions the doves above the stylized waves is also really interesting. It feels like he's trying to capture something fleeting and free. You know, art isn't made in a vacuum. Gestel was surely inspired by artists who came before, in this beautiful conversation across time. I imagine them all, pencils in hand, trying to distill feeling onto paper.