Suzdal. Walls of Saviour-Euthimius Monastery 1903

Nicholas Roerich made 'Suzdal. Walls of Saviour-Euthimius Monastery' with paint on board, and the way he’s gone about applying it is so satisfying. See how the brushstrokes aren’t trying to hide? Each one feels purposeful, building up a sense of place, brick by brick. There's a beautiful, almost crude texture to the paint, especially in the way the walls are rendered. The reds and browns aren’t blended; they sit next to each other, creating this vibrating surface. It’s like Roerich is showing us not just the monastery, but the very act of seeing it, interpreting it through paint. Look at the little white dashes that run along the top of the walls. They suggest snow, but they're also just these confident, linear marks against the broad strokes of the walls. Roerich reminds me of Marsden Hartley, in the way he balances representation with a kind of earthy abstraction, a recognition of paint as paint, and the world as something to be made and remade. We can never know for sure what an artist really thinks. It's always speculation and guesswork, with us bringing our own knowledge and feelings to the table.