Dzong 1928

Nicholas Roerich, sometime in the early to mid-twentieth century, brushed this landscape in dreamy blues and grays. I imagine Roerich mixing these colors—probably oil or tempera—and thinning them way down, working alla prima, wet on wet. It’s quite a feat to get those luminous layers and retain the architectural structure of the Dzong itself, perched on the hill like a crown. It makes me think of Arthur Dove's pastels, or maybe Milton Avery’s simplified forms. I bet he was thinking about the tonalists too. Look at how he’s handled the gradation of color in the foreground, that slow slide into darkness. It’s as if the whole painting is exhaling, calmly. I wonder, did he do studies? How long did it take? I imagine the artist, outside, squinting, painting fast to capture the moment. Roerich’s paintings remind us that artists are always looking, borrowing, and transforming the ideas of their peers, reaching across time. We are all in this together!