Saint Nicholas 1916

Nicholas Roerich painted Saint Nicholas with oils, and I see a real process at play, a building up of colour. The painting has a slightly unreal quality: that acid green hill, the looming mauve clouds. It’s theatrical, almost a stage set. Look at the rocks clustered at the bottom of the hill; they’re like props, positioned carefully to give a sense of depth. The paint is applied thinly, in smooth, even strokes, which adds to the slightly distanced, dreamlike quality. Then you have those buildings in the background, which fade into the sky, like a mirage or a memory. I see something of the Symbolists in Roerich’s work, particularly someone like Puvis de Chavannes, in the way he uses colour to create a mood, a sense of mystery. Ultimately, it’s this ambiguity that makes the painting so compelling. We’re not quite sure what we’re looking at, or what it all means. And maybe that’s the point.