Russian Easter 1924

Nicholas Roerich made this scene, *Russian Easter*, using what looks like tempera or maybe thinned oils to capture a spiritual moment. There's something about the way he builds up these muted blues and ochres that feels both dreamlike and solid, like a memory trying to take shape. I keep coming back to how Roerich handles light here. Look at how the procession glows against the dark blues of the night. There's a feeling of upward movement, both of the crowd and then, in the way, the light bounces off the architectural forms of the building. The paint application looks intentionally flat. This forces us to see the church as a solid geometric form, not as something ethereal, and I feel that it makes the procession and the moment all the more magical. Roerich reminds me a bit of Marsden Hartley, with his simplified forms and mystical subject matter, but Roerich is a bit more of a fantasist and less of a formalist, and that's okay. Art is about letting these different voices speak to each other, after all.