Prince Igor Campaign 1942

Here's a painting by Nicholas Roerich called 'Prince Igor Campaign,' made with what looks like tempera or gouache. Check out those flat, vibrant colors—blue and ochre sky, and rhythmic patterns of shields and spears that repeat like musical notes on a page. I wonder what Roerich was thinking about when he made this painting. What was it like for him, stepping back to decide where to place each figure, flag and spear? The paint application is so flat, yet there's a real sense of movement, you can almost hear the marching feet and the wind in the flags. It reminds me a bit of early Renaissance frescoes, where the artists were trying to tell a story in a simple, direct way. I love how paintings can echo each other across time and space. I imagine painters looking at each other’s works across the centuries and quietly learning from each other. It's like an ongoing conversation, a shared language of marks, colors, and forms.