Drie naakte staande vrouwen 1891 - 1941

Leo Gestel drew these three standing nudes with ink on paper. The red grid reminds me of squared paper we used in math class, or maybe the kind used for enlarging images. It makes me think he was trying to figure something out, maybe playing with scale, or proportion. The figures themselves are all in motion; a hand moves to the hair, and each head is cocked at a slightly different angle. I wonder if Gestel was working from life, with three real people in front of him, or imagining these figures and their relationship to one another. Drawing like this is generous because it shows its working; it is full of corrections and adjustments, a little like speech. It is as if Gestel is thinking aloud with his pen, and inviting us to watch him think. That's the thing about art. We are all just in an ongoing conversation with each other through time.