Silvery realm 1938

Nicholas Roerich made ‘Silvery Realm’ with tempera on canvas sometime in the first half of the twentieth century. I love the simple, almost childlike forms in this painting, it’s quite dreamlike. The mountain range looks soft, the sky a smooth wash of periwinkle. It makes me wonder what it was like for Roerich, applying each layer, seeing the mountain take shape from the flat canvas. Did he start with the peaks and work his way down, or build the land up from below? The painting isn't trying to replicate reality, but rather capture an essence, an emotion, a memory. The blues and purples create a sense of stillness, like a world holding its breath. It reminds me of the paintings of Agnes Martin, where the repetition of marks creates a meditative space. And I imagine Roerich, like Martin, searching for some kind of spiritual understanding through the act of painting.