Himalayas 1942

Nicholas Roerich painted “Himalayas” with what looks like tempera or watercolor, in washes of blues and whites. I love how the paint application feels both calculated and spontaneous. I’m feeling for Roerich here, trying to imagine what it must have been like to make this painting. I see these horizontal marks – like the mountains themselves, layered. The paint is thin, almost translucent, giving a sense of light and air. The mountains are painted with confident strokes in white and pale purple, which makes them feel close and far away at the same time, like a vision. Think of Agnes Martin’s subtle color fields or Marsden Hartley’s landscapes, there's something similar at play here in the way color evokes emotion and a sense of place. It’s like artists are always in conversation, borrowing and building on each other’s ideas. What I appreciate most is how Roerich embraces ambiguity, inviting us to bring our own interpretations to the canvas.