Tibet 1944

Nicholas Roerich made this painting, Tibet, with what looks like tempera paint on canvas. I find myself wondering about the process. I mean, look at the way the colors are laid down – those soft, almost pastel hues, built up through gentle gradations. It's all about atmosphere, right? You can almost feel the thin air and the stillness of the mountains. The paint itself seems applied in thin layers, letting the texture of the canvas peek through. It gives the whole thing a kind of breathy quality. It feels like a memory, or a dream. Notice that tiny figure standing on the ridge in the foreground. Roerich has given them just enough detail to suggest a human presence, but they're also swallowed up by the vastness of the landscape. It's a beautiful little meditation on our place in the world. Roerich reminds me of Hilma af Klint, in the way that he's using landscape to express spiritual ideas. And, like Klint, he embraces ambiguity, letting the painting speak in a language that's more felt than understood.