Naakte zittende vrouw met opgetrokken knieën (schets) before 1936

Leo Gestel made this drawing of a nude woman, with ink, on paper. Look at how the dark ink spreads across the page, defining the figure with bold strokes, like shadows forming on a wall. I imagine Gestel, hunched over the paper, his hand moving quickly, trying to capture the essence of the model before it disappears. You can almost feel the weight of the ink as it meets the paper, pooling in some areas, feathering out in others. It's like a dance between control and chance, where the artist guides the medium, but also allows it to have its say. The way he's rendered her hair and the contours of her body with such confidence reminds me of other expressionist painters, who were all in conversation with each other, pushing the boundaries of representation. The real magic of painting is how it embraces the unfinished, the uncertain, inviting us to fill in the gaps and imagine the possibilities.