Corridors of the castle. Dungeons 1913

Nicholas Roerich, sometime in the early to mid twentieth century, made this painting with layers of blues and purples, like looking into an indigo pit. I can imagine Roerich starting with a dark ground, then building up these cavernous, blocky forms, almost like he's constructing a set for a play, all heavy stone and hidden corners. There's something so compelling in the textures he's created, a kind of deep space that feels both solid and unknowable. It makes me think about Piranesi’s etchings of fantastical prisons. The way the light catches on the edges of things, like the pale steps leading into shadow, suggests a world that exists just beyond our reach. Roerich was obviously thinking about something beyond the surface, digging into the underbelly of a place, and maybe of the mind. It's as if Roerich is saying, "Here is a place to get lost, a place of endless possibility." And isn’t that what painting is all about?