Himalayas 1945

This image shows a landscape by Nicholas Roerich, and, well, it’s all about blue! Roerich lays down these incredibly saturated ultramarine washes over a textured surface that reminds me of egg tempera. It’s how he builds the composition in these layers of color that’s so striking. There’s something about the texture in Roerich's work that gets me. It’s not quite rough, but you can tell the paint isn't laid on smooth, like he's really scrubbing it in. This reminds me of Marsden Hartley, who also used a similar palette in his paintings of mountains in Maine. Look at the peaks; the way he carves out these planes with a really dry brush is gorgeous. The way the colors shift and blend – it's a real testament to the beauty of process. Roerich seems to be saying, “Here are mountains, but really, here is paint and process, too.” Isn’t that what painting’s all about?