Chandra-Bhaga (Path to Triloknath) 1932

This mountain landscape by Nicholas Roerich is a little gem, painted with what looks like tempera or maybe thin oils in shades of blue, purple, and ochre. I imagine Roerich layering these colours, one on top of the other, maybe even scraping some away to reveal what's underneath. Those mountains in the distance, they’re like stage flats, each one a slightly different hue, receding into the distance. You can almost feel him standing there, squinting at the light, trying to capture the immensity of the Himalayas with just a few strokes of his brush. He was part mystic, part theosophist, which makes you wonder if he thought of himself as painting what he saw or what he felt. Those little stupas in the foreground are cool, aren't they? It makes me think of Marsden Hartley, another painter of mountains and mystical leanings. Painters are always looking at each other, riffing off each other, in this never-ending conversation across time. Painting is like thought; embodied, full of feeling, intention, and meaning. It’s never really fixed.