Leo Gestel - Bavarian Forest, 1923

Leo Gestel (1881-1941)

Bavarian Forest

Charcoal on paper

Signed lower right “Leo Gestel”, dated “23” and annotated “Bayr-Wald”

46 x 61 cm

Frame: 66 x 81 cm

Condition:

Excellent

Provenance:

Sotheby’s Amsterdam, 21 December 2004, lot 296; private collection, Amsterdam.

Additional information:

In 1923 and 1924, the painter and draughtsman Leo Gestel made several journeys through Germany to Italy, travelling through Bavaria along the way. The Bavarian periods, with their rolling Alpine landscapes and picturesque villages, inspired Gestel to make intimate sketches and lively compositions. Although Gestel is best known for his luminist works and experiments with Cubism, his sketches from this period reveal a certain tranquillity. Bavaria served as a kind of prelude to the light and abundance of colour he would later encounter in Italy.

For Gestel, these journeys were not only a search for inspiration, but also a way of broadening his artistic horizons in a Europe still recovering from the First World War. Bavaria offered him a serene interlude in which he recorded his observations with warmth and simplicity.