Twee naakte vrouwen 1926 - 1941

Leo Gestel made "Two Nude Women" with graphite on paper, and what grabs me first is how raw it feels. It's like you're peeking into his sketchbook as he works through ideas, or maybe even warming up. The graphite lines are so immediate, so vulnerable. Gestel isn't trying to hide the process. You can see the searching, the corrections, the way a line doubles back on itself. There's this incredible honesty in the way the figures are rendered, not overly precious or refined, but full of a kind of energetic curiosity. Look at the hands, particularly on the figure to the left. They're like little explosions of scribbled lines, barely defined, yet somehow they convey so much expression. It makes me think of Picasso and his studies, but there's something here that's all Gestel's own. It’s less about solid form and more about the rhythm and movement of the lines themselves. It's like a dance!