Beda the Preacher 1945

Nicholas Roerich made this tempera on canvas painting called 'Beda the Preacher' in Russia. The palette is cool and calm, with deep blues and greens, save for the hot sun in the distance. It's this tension that makes the painting sing. There's a real sense of material process in the way the colours are blended. The paint seems almost dry, chalky, and matte, like fresco. Roerich applies the tempera with a light touch, allowing the texture of the canvas to show through. Look at the mountains, each one a slightly different tone. They remind me of stage flats. I see an interesting metaphor here: Roerich brings together the holy man, the landscape, and the theatre. He casts the preacher in the role of protagonist. Roerich's engagement with landscape painting and his interest in spiritual themes reminds me of Hilma af Klint. Like Klint, Roerich embraced abstraction as a means of expressing spiritual and philosophical ideas, valuing ambiguity over didacticism.