All ridge 1924

Nicholas Roerich made this painting, All Ridge, with what looks like tempera or gouache, creating these majestic mountains with a limited palette of blues and whites. I love the way he’s built up the forms with these short, choppy strokes. It gives the whole thing a kind of vibrating energy. The paint application is so direct; you can almost feel the artist's hand moving across the canvas. Look at the way he’s handled the snow-capped peaks, how the white sits on top of the blue, creating this crisp, cool contrast. There's this one area in the foreground, where the blue almost fades into a smoky haze, it's as if the mountains are emerging from a dream. I feel like Roerich has an affinity with Hilma af Klint, using landscapes to explore inner, spiritual states. Art isn’t just about what we see; it’s about what we feel, what we imagine, and what we connect with on a deeper level.