Tmutarakan 1919

Nicholas Roerich made this pencil drawing, Tmutarakan, at an unknown date. It's like a half-remembered dream, isn't it? I’m thinking about Roerich making the sketch, and how it might have been a way to remember a place, or maybe to imagine one. The lines are so tentative, like he's feeling his way around the forms, building up the image bit by bit. I wonder if he was thinking about the past, or maybe trying to create a world that only existed in his mind. The way he's layered the buildings, one behind the other, reminds me of how memories can overlap and blur. Looking at this, I think about other artists like Hilma af Klint, who were also exploring unseen realms through their art. It's like they're all part of this big conversation, each adding their own voice to the mix. Paintings and drawings like this remind me that art is a way to make sense of the world, even when things don't quite add up.