Lake Dal 1925

Nicholas Roerich painted Lake Dal with what looks like thin layers of oil paint, giving it this airy, almost translucent quality. I love how the mountains are rendered in these cool blues and purples, colours you might not immediately associate with a landscape, but they give the scene a dreamlike atmosphere. Look at the way the light catches the peaks, Roerich uses these peachy highlights to create depth and form. And the lake itself? It's like a mirror reflecting the sky, blurring the line between earth and heaven. There is something about the flatness and symmetry of this landscape that reminds me of another Russian painter, Pavel Filonov. Both artists share a similar spiritual connection with Russia. But whereas Filonov's paintings are bursting with fragmented forms, Roerich's work has a serene, almost mystical quality. For me, art is about exploring the world in unexpected ways, it's an open-ended conversation about what it means to be human.