Leo Gestel (1881-1941), Two ladies playing the piano by candlelight, oil on board, 37x46 cm, Literature:-Caroline Roodenburg-Schadd and Anne van Lienden, `Leo Gestel`, Bussum 2015, ill. p. 31. Provenance:-Collection Johannes Fredericus Samuel Esser, Amsterdam., signed and dated `Leo `08/Gestel` (lower left), The present lot depicts a cosy domestic scene, where the girl sat by the piano is encouraged by the other girl behind her. The composition is illuminated by the warm and colourful candlelight and the thick impasto makes these vibrating colours almost tangible. In this fresh thick-painted composition Leo Gestel combines the roughness of post-impressionism, Similar to the style of his fellow Dutchman Vincent van Gogh, with the elegance of pointillism. Georges Seurat, as the largest representative of this pointillist style, dissected the light into complementary colours and put them into numerous, regularly placed dots. This would create a true sensation of light, just as with the natural perception of light where the colours only start to melt together in the brain of the perceiver. Yet, Gestel strived for a more expressive result than is usually the case in this, on scientific theory-based placement of the dots that Seurat brought forth in his paintings. Gestel himself described his expressive modus operandi: ‘Om tot grooter billeering te komen kom ik er toe de kleuren gedivisieerd op te zetten, soms een heel werk te stippelen, zij het dan iets systematisch’. Gestel became acquainted with this French technique, only after having seen these vivid works in Paris during one of the study trips he made with his good friend Jan Sluijters. In January 1904, the two friends were both struck by the colourful works of the French fauves and Van Gogh, that were exhibited all throughout the city. These modern works had an instant effect on Sluijters and he quickly developed a bright colour palette. Gestel however, did not so drastically change his style and exercised more caution towards these modern changes. Nevertheless, this journey to Paris with his friend and colleague Jan Sluijters encouraged Gestel to paint in a looser manner and slowly added brighter colours to his palette. This present painting is a great example of the beginning of Gestel’s journey towards Amsterdam Luminism. In this intimate composition the artist finds himself on the brink of modernism; he experiments with a new avant-garde style while still paying tribute to his academic background. Please compare this lot to a painting with a similar composition ‘Dag- en lamplichtstudie (meisje aan de piano)’, dated winter 1908-1909, in the collection of the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterloo, inv. no. KM 102.847.