Kneeling warriors (Study of murals for the chapel in Pskov) 1914

Nicholas Roerich made this study for murals in a chapel in Pskov, but we don't know exactly when or with what. What strikes me is the way Roerich approaches the making of an image with reverence. There is the making of a flat picture plane with the creation of depth. The painting has such a powerful impact because of the material choices Roerich made. The colour appears flat, giving the sense of the study as a rendering of a dream. Notice how the forms don't have tonal variation, and in doing so, the light emanates from the image. I am intrigued by the stars as dots on the surface of the image, and by the pattern of the circles on the figures robes which draw my eye upwards to the heavens. Roerich's landscapes and spiritual themes are also present in the work of Hilma af Klint. Like Klint, Roerich asks us to imagine an unseen world beyond.