Sacred Himalayas 1934

Nicholas Roerich made this painting of the Sacred Himalayas with tempera on canvas, and looking at the painting, it is clear that his art-making was a thoughtful and reverent process. There’s this cool layering of color, where you see purples and whites. The way the mountains are rendered, with these flat planes of color, almost feels like a collage, which I love as a painter. I always look for that kind of thing. The texture seems smooth and matte, but it’s all about how the light catches these shapes and gives them volume. Look at the peaks of the central mountain range; the white is almost blinding, yet it feels soft because of the way the color fades into the cool, grey sky. Roerich reminds me of Hilma af Klint, another artist who used landscape and spiritual themes. Both Klint and Roerich invite us to see the world as a place of mystery, full of hidden meanings.