Drie zwarte paarden staand naar links kijkend 1935 - 1936

Leo Gestel made this drawing of three black horses with pen in ink on paper. I am thinking about the hand moving, quickly, maybe even anxiously—the brushstrokes are so confident. It makes me wonder, what was Gestel thinking when he put these marks on paper? What did he want to show? The horses emerge from the white ground as if by magic. Their forms are defined by the dark ink, but their presence feels light and free. Look at the way the legs are just quick flicks of the wrist. And the painterly strokes that form the bodies! Gestel knows that the painting is not about accurately rendering three horses, but rather a feeling of horses. This drawing reminds me of Franz Marc, who loved painting horses. All of us painters, we’re in it together. I love to think of us all, dead and alive, just painting away.