Lahaul 1931

Nicholas Roerich captured this landscape with a clear love of colour. The soft pastels sit next to each other, creating a hazy, dreamlike atmosphere. I can imagine Roerich outside, hunkering down, squinting maybe, trying to get the colours just so. The way he has layered the purples, lilacs and browns to build up the mountains, gives a real sense of depth and distance. It makes me think about how landscape painters, like Cezanne, use colour to create form. How the slightest shift in hue can suggest a whole world of space. I can almost feel the dry chalky texture of the pastel on the paper, feel the way it crumbles and blends. The high peaks of the mountains and the swirling clouds bring a symbolic element, perhaps a search for spiritual enlightenment. It reminds us that painting can be more than just representation. It’s a portal to another way of seeing and feeling.