Monhegan (study) 1922

This sketch of Monhegan was made by Nicholas Roerich, likely on paper with graphite. It's all about the hand, isn't it? The sensitive line, the way the artist is feeling their way through the landscape. I think of Roerich standing there, squinting, trying to capture the essence of the place. He's not trying to copy it, but to feel it, to translate the experience into a few marks. Look at the way he renders those trees. Quick, gestural, like he's trying to catch them before they move. They feel so alive. And the mountains in the background are like a whisper, a suggestion of something vast and ancient. It's all so delicate, so fleeting. Roerich was an interesting guy – a theosophist, a mystic, always searching for something beyond the surface of things. You can see that in this sketch. It's not just a landscape, it's a portal to another world. We are all looking for the same thing aren't we, each in our own way?