Western Himalayas 1936

Nicholas Roerich painted 'Western Himalayas' sometime in his lifetime, using what looks like tempera. What strikes me is the way Roerich builds up this scene with flat planes of color, like cutting out shapes from paper. The peaks are white, tinged with yellow, but the shadows are blue, and everything has this soft, powdery texture that makes me think of fresco. Look at the way he's handled the sky, horizontal stripes of muted color that create depth. There is a sense of light, but it's not realistic, more symbolic, which gives the mountains this otherworldly, spiritual quality. That little stroke of light yellow on the peak of the central mountain! It's like a tiny spotlight, making you think of the divine. Roerich reminds me a little bit of someone like Marsden Hartley. Both artists had this interest in landscape as a spiritual subject, simplified into these monumental forms. Ultimately, it's not about capturing a real place, but about finding something transcendent in the forms of nature.