Waiting 1917

Nicholas Roerich made this painting, Waiting, with what looks like oil on canvas, though the date remains a mystery. The palette here is like a cool dream: a soft, pastel dance of blues and pinks, creating a landscape that feels both familiar and otherworldly. The brushstrokes are direct, almost blocky, as if Roerich is building the scene rather than just painting it. I love the texture in the sky, those clouds are rendered with gentle strokes of blues, pinks, and whites. But it's the figure in the foreground that really grabs me. A small, solitary person sitting and facing the landscape, painted in warmer browns, creates a sense of anticipation, reflecting an awareness of a vastness that speaks to the human condition. Roerich’s paintings share a certain affinity with the landscapes of someone like Lawren Harris, who pursued a similar feeling of transcendental awe within the North American landscape. Ultimately, this is art that lingers in the mind.