Putivl 1914

Nicholas Roerich created this painting of Putivl, but we don't know exactly when or with what. It's all about the process here, and you can see it in the built-up layers of color, like he was feeling his way through the image. Roerich’s touch is so present in the way the colors vibrate against each other. Look at how the yellow sky makes the blues of the building seem even more blue, and the reds pop forward. It’s not just about making a picture; it's about how the colors themselves create a kind of emotional space. See the way the roof is built up with these tiny brushstrokes? It's like he's breathing life into the architecture, making it feel solid but also kind of dreamy. You know, looking at this, I can’t help but think of Marsden Hartley, another painter who was really into this idea of art as a spiritual journey. Both of them remind us that art is always a conversation, a back-and-forth between what we see and what we feel.