Ladakh 1938

Here we see Nicholas Roerich’s painting of Ladakh, where layers of blue and grey mountains stretch toward a pale, ethereal sky. The mountains themselves, stark and majestic, are a universal symbol of endurance and spiritual aspiration. Throughout art history, across various cultures, mountains have appeared as sacred sites, places of revelation and enlightenment. Think of Mount Sinai in religious texts, or the mythical Mount Olympus of the Greeks. In many Eastern traditions, mountains are viewed as the abode of gods and spiritual beings. We see their likeness reflected in Chinese landscape painting, where mountains signify the harmony between heaven and earth, and in the paintings of the German Romantics, where mountaintops are shrouded in mist, evoking feelings of awe and sublimity. Ladakh’s arrangement encourages a meditative state. The emotional resonance of such imagery is powerful, tapping into our collective subconscious. The symbol of the mountain has been reborn time and time again, each time imbued with new significance.