Himalayas. Varicoloured snows. 1937

Nicholas Roerich made this painting, "Himalayas. Varicoloured snows.", with what looks like tempera, maybe gouache. Roerich’s mountain range is all about layering; layer upon layer of these simple triangles, again and again. It’s like he found one shape and thought, "How many times can I repeat this?" and then varied the colour just enough to make it sing. Look at the way the yellow light hits the peaks, contrasting against the deep blues. It’s not just representational; it’s emotional. The paint is applied in flat planes and the texture is smooth, kind of like an early modernist scene, like Cezanne, but with a Russian twist. I find myself looking at that top ridge, where the yellow sky kisses the white peak. The subtle shift in colour there feels like a key change in a song. It’s not a huge move, but it changes the whole mood. Roerich was a theosophist, and this painting reminds me of Hilma af Klint and her spiritual approach to painting, or maybe even Agnes Martin. It’s all connected, this endless conversation through art.