Schip met een man aan boord op het water 1891 - 1941

Leo Gestel made this drawing of a ship with a man aboard on the water with black chalk. Look at the way he’s built up the image, with these really direct, quite rough marks. You can feel him working, smudging, getting the tone just right. There’s something so immediate about drawing, you know? It's like the thought goes straight from the brain to the hand. Gestel captures the scene's quiet stillness with the contrast between the dark, solid boat and the soft, almost hazy background. Notice how he uses the chalk on the water, those horizontal strokes suggesting movement and reflection. It’s so simple, yet so effective. You can see echoes of someone like Edvard Munch here, that same feeling of being alone in nature, wrestling with the world. Art’s just one big conversation, isn’t it? Gestel's work reminds us that art doesn't always need to shout; sometimes, it whispers.