Monhegan 1922

Nicholas Roerich made this painting of Monhegan Island using tempera on canvas. The island sits ten miles off the coast of Maine, where in the early 20th century, a small art colony had emerged. The painting emphasizes the sublimity of nature, reducing the scene to its bare essentials. It is not hard to imagine that Roerich and others found solace in the landscape, far from the noise of modernity. At the time, museums and art schools reinforced distinctions between the metropolis and the countryside. Here, Roerich embraces the latter, finding spiritual nourishment in nature. Given the artist’s Russian background, we might interpret this painting in terms of the Symbolist movement that looked to synthesize art and life by emphasizing spiritual experience. Roerich was greatly influenced by the Theosophical Society, so further research into this history is essential in our understanding of the work. This helps us to understand how the painting is an expression of a set of beliefs as much as it is the representation of a view.