Paarden in de natuur 1891 - 1941

Leo Gestel made this drawing, "Horses in Nature," with black and red chalk. It's all about gesture, you know? How a few lines can suggest so much. The surface is alive with these quick, searching marks. The black chalk is dense, giving weight to the forms, while the red adds a flicker of warmth, of blood, maybe, animating the scene. The horses aren't really "there," but the energy of the marks—those urgent, scribbled contours—they give you the feeling of these animals in motion. Look at the way Gestel defines the musculature with just a few strokes. It reminds me of Franz Marc's animal paintings, that same interest in distilling form to its essence. It’s like he's not just drawing horses, but the idea of horseness. That's what makes it so compelling, even now.