Mountain Abode 1933

Nicholas Roerich gave us this small oil on canvas of the Mountain Abode. It's all variations of blues and muted yellows. I love to think about the painter outside, squinting and shivering, the wind making their eyes water as they focus on the landscape. I'm not sure what it was like for Roerich, but I can feel him wanting to capture something very specific about the light and the mass of the mountains. Those clouds are so puffy, like cotton balls glued on! The castle in the right-hand corner looks cold and uninviting but also resolute and strong. Roerich’s palette choices are interesting. I feel the coldness of the blues, and can imagine him wanting to share this feeling with us. The way the forms are simplified is great, pared back to their basic essence. It reminds me a bit of Milton Avery, someone else very interested in elemental forms. Painting is an ongoing conversation across generations, and we can see echoes of different voices within it.