Alps (study) 1923

Nicholas Roerich made this painting called ‘Alps (study)’ with oil paint. Look at how Roerich builds up the mountains with these broad strokes of blue. It’s like he’s not just painting what he sees, but how it feels to stand in front of something so immense. The paint is thick, almost sculptural, and the blues are layered to give a sense of depth. There’s this one dark stroke right in the foreground, and it pulls the whole composition together, like a grounding force. The way he handles the light, it’s not about capturing every detail, but about creating an atmosphere. Roerich’s work reminds me a little of Milton Avery’s, with that same simplification of form and focus on color to evoke a mood. It’s that idea that painting is a verb, something you do, rather than just a picture of something.