Himalayas 1943

Nicholas Roerich made this painting of the Himalayas, with what looks like pastel. I love the way he's scrubbed the colours into the surface, pushing the pinks, purples and blues together. You can almost feel him trying to capture the vastness and the imposing scale of the mountains. I imagine him standing in front of the Himalayas, squinting against the sunlight to make a quick sketch, thinking about artists like Cezanne, maybe even feeling a kinship with the landscape painters of ancient China. Roerich is capturing light and form, but also something deeper, something about the sublime and the enduring power of nature. The rough texture of the pastel gives the mountains a tangible presence, while the blending of colors evokes a dreamy atmosphere. There’s one bold stroke of dark blue that defines the ridge of a mountain, feels decisive. Artists are always in conversation with each other across time, finding new ways to express the world around them. In the end, painting is just a way of thinking out loud, working through an idea with colour and form.