Bloemenvaas 1891 - 1941

Leo Gestel made this drawing of a flower vase with ink on paper. It’s all about the lines here, right? Look at the way he builds up the form of the vase, this tight hatching of lines giving it weight and volume. And then above, the flowers explode outwards, a wild abandon of looping, whirling marks. I love the energy, the way the flowers seem to vibrate off the page. It reminds me of some of those Matisse line drawings, so economical but so full of life. There’s something almost frantic about the mark-making, as if he’s trying to capture the fleeting beauty of the bouquet before it fades. It’s a reminder that art isn’t about perfection, it’s about process, about the act of seeing and responding to the world around us.