Alps (study) 1923

Nicholas Roerich made this study of the Alps sometime in his career, probably using oils on canvas. I’m really responding to the energy of the brushstrokes here, the way the landscape is formed through layers of blues, whites, and earth tones. I imagine Roerich outside, looking at this view and trying to capture the scale of this landscape and the quiet grandeur of the mountains. He is experimenting with colour to find the light, building up tones on the canvas, as he's thinking, figuring out what to do. I love the way that the creamy whites of the sky almost appear to reflect the ice-capped mountains. The paint is applied pretty thinly, allowing for a sense of openness and light to pervade the work. It makes me think of other painters, like Lawren Harris, who also found spiritual inspiration in mountainscapes. Painters are always in conversation, aren’t they? Picking up ideas, reacting to what they see, and making something new. Roerich’s painting feels unresolved in a great way, open for us to explore, dream, and imagine.