Rocks & cliffs. 1919

Nicholas Roerich made 'Rocks & cliffs' with oil on canvas. Imagine him standing there, maybe squinting a bit, trying to capture the vastness of the landscape. It's not just about copying what's in front of him, right? It's about feeling it, the hugeness, the way the light changes everything. Look at how he's laid down these strokes of purples, greens, and ochres – kind of thick, like he's building the land right there on the canvas. I wonder if he was thinking about other painters who’d tried to wrestle with nature, like, what would Cezanne say about those planes of color creating depth? Or maybe he was just lost in the moment, trying to nail that particular shade of shadow falling across the valley. That one brushstroke feels like a risk he took and trusted, doesn't it? It’s all about experimentation and trust. We can enter a dialogue with the artist, and with each other.