Tibet 1937

Nicholas Roerich painted this vision of Tibet with thin layers of colour, one over the other, like thoughts building up in your mind. It’s really the blues that get me—they seem to vibrate, building this incredible sense of depth, of atmosphere. I can imagine Roerich standing before his easel, wrestling with how to capture the sheer scale and spirituality of this landscape. It's almost like he’s building up the mountains, layer by layer, thought by thought, until they materialize before us. The angular forms of the buildings and mountains, daubs of pink and blue, communicate something monumental and eternal. I see echoes of Cezanne’s geometry, and maybe even a bit of Munch’s emotional landscape, too. Ultimately, for me, a painting like this is about the conversations artists have across time. I wonder who will pick up the baton next, and how they might transform the possibilities of paint?