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Lot Essay
“All teachers journeyed to the mountains. The highest knowledge, the most inspired songs, the most superb sounds and colours are created on the mountains. On the highest mountains there is Supreme. The high mountains stand as witnesses of the great reality. The spirit of prehistoric man already enjoyed the greatness of the mountains” (J. Decter, Nicholas Roerich: The Life and Art of a Russian Master, Vermont, 1989, p. 141).
In 1923, Nicholas Roerich, his wife Helena, and their sons George and Svetoslav finally embarked on a long-awaited journey to India. “In March 1925, Roerich's Central Asian expedition began [...] Their point of departure was Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir in the Western Himalayas [...] On May 26, 1928, after covering 15,500 miles and traversing thirty-five of the world's highest mountain passes in the course of their three-year journey, they arrived back in Darjeeling. It had been not only a scientific expedition but a spiritual quest” (J. Decter, Nicholas Roerich, London, 1989, pp. 159-173).
After thoroughly exploring the region on expeditions through Central Asia, Tibet, Nepal, Sikkim, Siberia and Mongolia, which Roerich documented in several paintings as well as his book, Heart of Asia, the family settled in Darjeeling in 1929, where the artist was able to continue to capture the area’s stunning mountain vistas in paint. The present lot, painted in 1931, is reminiscent of his travels and the ‘Sanctuaries and Citadels’ series which he painted in 1925 during his family’s travels in the Ladakh region in northern India. His focus remains on the Buddhist monasteries and spaces he experienced and inhabited during these travels.
While the scene he depicts in the present painting is an exterior view, there is a sense of interiority that comes from the meditative nature of the space. The structure in this painting, Himalayan Monastery, is veiled in an ethereal light blue light which highlights the cold mountainous environment along with its divinity. The monastery sits perched upon a darker mountain while the structure itself becomes one with the snowcapped peaks in the background which are bathed in the same light. There is a sense of the inherent distance that must be crossed to access and understand the sacred and divine, something that Roerich understood from a very young age.
The artist was inspired by the unique geography and spiritual qualities of India’s landscapes, particularly the Himalayan mountain ranges, since his childhood. Born to a Baltic German father and a Russian mother, Roerich and his siblings spent their holidays at Isvara, their family estate outside St. Petersburg. Roughly translated from Sanskrit, Isvara means ‘Lord’ or ‘divine spirit’. The estate was named by its previous owner, Count Semyon Vorontsov, who was deeply influenced by his travels through India. Furthermore, Vorontsov left a painting of Himalayan peak, Kanchenjunga, at Isvara, which captured Roerich’s imagination, and would later become a frequent and favorite subject of his paintings. In his quest to find the divine which captivated his imagination, and depict its reality, Roerich allows the viewer to experience the Supreme as he found it through painted memories of his travels through the Himalayan mountain range.
We are grateful to Gvido Trepša, Director of the Nicholas Roerich Museum, New York for his assistance with cataloging this work.
In 1923, Nicholas Roerich, his wife Helena, and their sons George and Svetoslav finally embarked on a long-awaited journey to India. “In March 1925, Roerich's Central Asian expedition began [...] Their point of departure was Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir in the Western Himalayas [...] On May 26, 1928, after covering 15,500 miles and traversing thirty-five of the world's highest mountain passes in the course of their three-year journey, they arrived back in Darjeeling. It had been not only a scientific expedition but a spiritual quest” (J. Decter, Nicholas Roerich, London, 1989, pp. 159-173).
After thoroughly exploring the region on expeditions through Central Asia, Tibet, Nepal, Sikkim, Siberia and Mongolia, which Roerich documented in several paintings as well as his book, Heart of Asia, the family settled in Darjeeling in 1929, where the artist was able to continue to capture the area’s stunning mountain vistas in paint. The present lot, painted in 1931, is reminiscent of his travels and the ‘Sanctuaries and Citadels’ series which he painted in 1925 during his family’s travels in the Ladakh region in northern India. His focus remains on the Buddhist monasteries and spaces he experienced and inhabited during these travels.
While the scene he depicts in the present painting is an exterior view, there is a sense of interiority that comes from the meditative nature of the space. The structure in this painting, Himalayan Monastery, is veiled in an ethereal light blue light which highlights the cold mountainous environment along with its divinity. The monastery sits perched upon a darker mountain while the structure itself becomes one with the snowcapped peaks in the background which are bathed in the same light. There is a sense of the inherent distance that must be crossed to access and understand the sacred and divine, something that Roerich understood from a very young age.
The artist was inspired by the unique geography and spiritual qualities of India’s landscapes, particularly the Himalayan mountain ranges, since his childhood. Born to a Baltic German father and a Russian mother, Roerich and his siblings spent their holidays at Isvara, their family estate outside St. Petersburg. Roughly translated from Sanskrit, Isvara means ‘Lord’ or ‘divine spirit’. The estate was named by its previous owner, Count Semyon Vorontsov, who was deeply influenced by his travels through India. Furthermore, Vorontsov left a painting of Himalayan peak, Kanchenjunga, at Isvara, which captured Roerich’s imagination, and would later become a frequent and favorite subject of his paintings. In his quest to find the divine which captivated his imagination, and depict its reality, Roerich allows the viewer to experience the Supreme as he found it through painted memories of his travels through the Himalayan mountain range.
We are grateful to Gvido Trepša, Director of the Nicholas Roerich Museum, New York for his assistance with cataloging this work.