Karga 1933

Nicholas Roerich painted this landscape, called Karga, with watercolour. I can imagine Roerich working on this, maybe outside, really fast, trying to capture the scene – the yellow ochre of the foreground, the way it meets the blue mountains in the background. The colour is so important here, and the way it creates form. Look at the contrast of these blues – cobalt, cerulean and ultramarine – layered on top of each other to create depth and texture. What must it have felt like to be up there, painting, trying to get the light just right? Was he shivering in the cold? Roerich was inspired by the Symbolist movement, and you can see that in the dreamlike quality of the landscape. It reminds me of other artists too, like Hilma af Klint, who were also exploring spiritual themes in their work. Artists are always riffing off each other, taking ideas and pushing them in new directions. Painting is this ongoing conversation across time, inspiring one another's creativity.