Bloem met knoppen, hand met een roos een bij en een panter 1939 - 1941

Leo Gestel made "Bloom with buds, hand with a rose a bee and a panther" with pencil and chalk on paper. Looking at this work, I can see a grid of different images - flowers, hands holding roses, a panther. It feels like looking at different sketches, each one capturing a moment or an idea. The panther is particularly striking. I wonder what it was like to create such a careful composition. Gestel must have been thinking about symbols, about how we use images to communicate and understand the world around us. This piece reminds me a little of Redon, with his dreamlike imagery. There's something poetic and a little surreal here, inviting us to wander through the artist's mind and find our own connections. It’s like joining a conversation that’s been going on between artists for ages, each adding their own voice.