She monastery 1937

Nicholas Roerich made this pastel landscape, called ‘She Monastery,’ at an unknown date. The soft hues of blues and browns create a dreamy, almost ethereal atmosphere. I'm imagining Roerich, maybe on location, carefully layering pastel strokes to capture this vista. It feels like a meditative process, the soft pastels allowing for subtle gradations and a gentle blending of colors. The sky is a pale wash of blue, and the mountains are rendered in a way that suggests both solidity and a kind of dissolving into the atmosphere. The architectural structures are geometric, but their edges are blurred, softening the overall image. There’s a real sense of stillness in this piece. It reminds me of Agnes Martin’s work, that same quietness and attention to subtle shifts in tone and color. Ultimately, painting is a deeply personal form of expression, and each artist brings their own unique sensibility to the medium. Roerich has something to say here about our inner experience of the landscape.