Important Notice

“Where can one have such joy as when the sun is upon the Himalayas, when the blue is more intense than sapphires, when from the far distance, the glaciers glitter as incomparable gems!” - NICHOLAS ROERICH

Nicholas Roerich’s admiration for the Himalayan landscape began in his childhood, through an old family painting of the majestic Kanchenjunga - a mountain he would later trek and be inspired to paint. Quoting from the Chinese... “Where can one have such joy as when the sun is upon the Himalayas, when the blue is more intense than sapphires, when from the far distance, the glaciers glitter as incomparable gems!” - NICHOLAS ROERICH

Nicholas Roerich’s admiration for the Himalayan landscape began in his childhood, through an old family painting of the majestic Kanchenjunga - a mountain he would later trek and be inspired to paint. Quoting from the Chinese book, Wei Tsang T’u-Shih, in his diary in 1924, he writes, “The luster of the mountain peaks is equal unto emerald. Verily the beauty and perfection of all objects make this place incomparable.” (Altai-Himalaya: A Travel Diary, Part I India, New York: Nicholas Roerich Museum, online)

Roerich first established himself as an eminent artist in his homeland Russia and parts of Europe before relocating to India with his family in 1923. After travelling and taking part in expeditions across India and Central Asia - including Chinese Turkestan, Altai, Mongolia and Tibet - Roerich, with his family, eventually returned to India in 1928 and settled in the Kullu Valley in the Himalayan foothills. In the years that followed, the artist created a series of landscapes, such as the present lot, that skilfully depicted the Himalayan mountains in their glorious form and in a myriad of tones and hues.

As seen in this tempera painting, Roerich’s works from this period display a masterful study of light and shadow, with the artist carefully outlining every topographical detail. Through the rocky ridges and snowy dunes of this composition, the artist invites the viewer to experience this soothing landscape as he would have at the time. “His painting may be described as at once scholarly, scientific and fearless; added to this there is the poetry of a mystic who is a worshipper of Nature, a Walt Whitman in painting, in a sense. He draws from sky, sea and land those unseen forces of Fatalism and Destiny which are found in Shakespeare. His use of materials is that of a master craftsman, especially where tempera and pastel are used together.” (“Nicholas K. Roerich,” The American Magazine of Art, Vol. 12, No. 6, June 1921, p. 198)

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