Himalayas (study) 1931

This small painting was made by Nicholas Roerich, probably in the 1930s, using tempera on canvas. Roerich was not only an artist, but also an archeologist, philosopher, and public figure. He was deeply interested in the spiritual dimensions of landscape, and spent years traveling in Asia, particularly the Himalayas. As you can see here, he used thin washes of pigment to capture the monumentality and grandeur of these peaks. Tempera, made from pigments bound with egg yolk, dries very quickly, allowing an artist to build up layers of color. It’s an ancient medium, used for centuries before oil paint was developed. There’s a deliberate simplicity to this painting, a kind of pared-down essence. Yet the way Roerich has worked the paint, building up the surface with subtle variations of tone, is what gives the image its sense of depth and light. Roerich’s art reminds us that painting is not just about representation. It’s also about the qualities of the materials themselves, and the slow, deliberate process of bringing an image into being.