Ridge of Everest 1924

Nicholas Roerich made this painting of the Ridge of Everest with paint, probably oil or tempera, and lots of light blue and white. I can almost feel the chill in the air! The whole thing feels like it was built up slowly, layer by layer. I imagine him, squinting and dabbing, trying to capture the way the light bounces off those jagged peaks. What's so incredible to me is how he manages to convey so much with just a few simple strokes. Look at the way he defines the ridges with these dark, decisive lines. You can feel the weight of the snow, the sharpness of the rocks. Roerich clearly admired the sheer scale and majesty of these mountains. It reminds me of some other landscape painters like Lawren Harris, or even some of the early Hudson River School guys, who were also trying to capture the sublime power of nature. Artists are always looking at each other, building on each other's ideas, aren't they? This is a painting about seeing and feeling, about how we project our inner selves onto the world around us.