Kiss the Earth 1912

Nicholas Roerich painted "Kiss the Earth" using what seems to be tempera, conjuring forms that emerge from a wash of warm browns and tans. I can almost feel Roerich leaning into this piece, letting the pigments bleed and settle, coaxing a landscape into being through layers of delicate strokes. The white slash of a river cuts horizontally across, offering a stark contrast to the earth tones and those vertical tree-like forms that ground the composition. Was he thinking about belonging, about the reverence for nature when he made this? The way the paint seems to seep into the support makes me think about how artists across time are drawn to the same subjects and ways of working, each adding their voice. It's like Roerich is speaking to us across time, inviting us to contemplate the earth and our place within it. Painting, for him, and for us, becomes a way to explore these big questions, with each brushstroke a gesture of inquiry and connection.