Naakte man en vrouw aan de kustlijn, omringd door zeemeeuwen 1891 - 1941

Leo Gestel made this pencil drawing of nude figures on a beach with seagulls sometime in the early 20th century. Isn't it interesting how a simple line can conjure so much? Gestel's lines here are exploratory, almost like he's feeling his way around the forms. You can sense him deciding where to commit, where to let the line fade. There's a softness to the graphite that I love. It’s not about precision, but about capturing a feeling, a fleeting moment. I keep coming back to the woman’s face on the right. Her eyes are simply described, yet they hold so much expression. Look at her hair too, just scribbled lines that somehow convey movement and texture. Gestel reminds me of Paula Modersohn-Becker in his willingness to embrace a kind of raw honesty. Art isn't always about perfection, sometimes it's about the beauty found in the unfinished, in the spaces between the lines. It's about the conversation that unfolds between the artist and the paper, and then, between the artwork and us.