Ladakh 1925

Nicholas Roerich painted this watercolour, Ladakh, with its pastel blues and purples, to evoke a very specific sense of place. It’s amazing to think about how it came into being, shifting and emerging through intuition and an understanding of the landscape. Look closely and you can almost feel the air thinning, the sun bleaching out the colours. I like to imagine Roerich carefully layering each wash, deciding where to let the paper breathe through, and how to build up the misty, atmospheric effect. There’s something so tender and knowing about the way he’s handled the paint, as if he were coaxing the mountains into existence. Painting is like that, an ongoing conversation with the world and other artists, with new ideas emerging across time, inspiring creativity and connection. It's a form of expression which embraces ambiguity allowing for multiple interpretations.