Mount “M” 1931

Nicholas Roerich made this painting of mountains with what looks like tempera. Roerich’s got these cool blues, pinks, and whites, and I can almost feel him, brush in hand, layering the paint, figuring out how to capture the light hitting those peaks. Did he start with the sky, or block in the mountains first? I can see the influence of Japanese prints or maybe even art deco in how he simplifies the forms. There's a real sense of atmosphere, a kind of mystical quality. The textures he creates with the paint are rugged, like the mountains themselves. It makes me think about other landscape painters—like Lawren Harris of the Group of Seven, who was also trying to capture the spiritual essence of nature. Ultimately, painting’s like a conversation—artists building on each other's ideas, remixing them, and seeing the world in new ways.