Study of scene design for "Peer Gynt" 1912

This is Nicholas Roerich's "Study of scene design for "Peer Gynt"", and what a scene it sets! With charcoal or graphite, Roerich captures the drama of the play in a monochromatic palette, punctuated by these brilliant flashes of gold. I can imagine Roerich wrestling with how to stage Ibsen's play, pushing and pulling the tonal values of the rocks and sky to create this mystical landscape. There's a lot of darkness, but the gleam of gold seems to offer a glimmer of hope. I wonder if he was thinking about the play's themes of identity and self-discovery, the weight of the mountains perhaps representing the burden of Peer's choices. That little house in the foreground almost looks like a face staring back at us, like a silent witness to the unfolding drama. Roerich was part of a broader movement of symbolist artists who used landscapes to evoke inner states and spiritual ideas. It's like he’s inviting us to step into the scene and become part of the story.