Pilgrim 1932

Nicholas Roerich made this painting, Pilgrim, with oil on canvas. Look at the painting, its planes of muted colors, and how they softly meet. It seems like the artist is almost caressing the canvas, layering the paint, building up those mountain ranges. Did he start with the sky, that dreamy turquoise, and then let the mountains rise from below? I can imagine Roerich, eyes squinting, mixing lavender and rose, capturing the light just so. I think the dark figure on the yak grounds the painting, turning it into a story. This little pilgrim becomes the human element in the face of these monumental natural forms. Roerich painted many landscapes, each with its own mood and sense of place, a bit like Agnes Martin's subtle color shifts or Lawren Harris's simplified forms. Artists are always looking at each other, borrowing, riffing. Roerich invites us to slow down, to breathe in the vastness, and to maybe even consider our own path.