Hoofden van een kussend stel 1891 - 1941

Leo Gestel made this drawing of kissing heads on paper, and what strikes me is how fleeting it feels. It's like catching a glimpse of something intimate, a whispered secret. Look at the way Gestel uses the pencil – those soft, smudgy lines that barely define the forms. It’s all about suggestion, not declaration. The faces emerge from the paper like a dream, their features hinted at rather than explicitly drawn. The texture is so delicate, so ephemeral. It’s as if the kiss itself is dissolving into the air, leaving only the faintest trace. Notice the area around the chins, how the shading creates a sense of depth and closeness. Those darker strokes pull the figures together, emphasizing the intimacy of the moment. Gestel reminds me of Paula Modersohn-Becker, in the way he renders his figures with such tenderness and vulnerability. Both artists understood the power of simplicity, the beauty of raw emotion. Art isn’t about answers, it's about the questions.