Book of doves 1922

Nicholas Roerich made this painting called 'Book of Doves' with oil on canvas and, boy, does it sing! The colours are muted, like looking through a dusty window, but there’s a real vibrancy in how they’re laid down. You can almost feel Roerich working and reworking the surface, trying to get it just right. Look at the way the paint is layered in the sky and buildings, it's like he’s building up this whole world, piece by piece. I love how the creamy, pale book dominates the foreground, and it makes me wonder what stories it holds. Is it a history book, a fairytale, or maybe a philosophical text? The figures look so small next to it, yet their presence is critical, like they're part of a play being staged right here. Roerich’s work always reminds me of someone like Marsden Hartley, an earlier artist who explored similar themes of spirituality and the sublime. And that reminds us that art is an ongoing conversation, where artists respond to, and reinterpret each other's ideas, making it always new.