5 minutes with... Nicholas Roerich’s The Call of the Sun

When the modernist composer Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) was asked what he loved most about his Russian homeland, he said it was the violent sound of spring. He described it as ‘like the whole Earth cracking’.

The Call of the Sun, painted in 1919 by the Russian artist and archaeologist Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947), embodies this exhilarating tension. It depicts a group of ancient tribesmen worshipping the coming sunrise after months of darkness.

‘In Western Europe, spring is a gentle, benign experience,’ says Christie’s Russian Art specialist Aleksandra Babenko. ‘But in Russia’s far north, it is almost primeval: this burst of nature is long anticipated.’ Roerich, like his friend Stravinsky, was born and brought up in St Petersburg, on the River Neva. In winter, thick ice forms on the water; when it breaks, the sound is like gunfire.

According to Babenko, the painting — with its luminous bands of pink and yellow radiating over a silhouetted mountain landscape — was inspired by the artist’s vast knowledge of Slavonic prehistory. In his memoirs, Roerich wrote: ‘Life was overtly joyous during the Stone Age… Long live the celebration that always rejoices at the victory of the spring sun. When fast-paced dances were performed. People rejoiced. They began to create art. They were close to us. Perhaps they were singing. And their songs were heard across the lake and in every island.’

Like many in Russia in the latter part of the 19th century, Roerich was horrified by the rapid transformation of his country from an agricultural society to an industrial one. It awakened a fascination with Russia’s ancient past, its pagan peoples and their rituals.

When Stravinsky envisioned a dance of death dedicated to the sun, he described it to Roerich. With his deep knowledge of Slavonic folklore, Roerich was able to provide the composer with historical insights that gave rise to the atavistic ballet The Rite of Spring. Roerich designed the costumes and sets for the ballet’s riotous premiere in Paris in 1913.

The Call of the Sun was painted six years later, by which time Russia was in the grip of revolution and Roerich was living in Finland. He was sent there on the orders of his doctor to recuperate from pneumonia. The revolution broke out while he was away, and he and his family never returned. ‘As a result,’ explains Babenko, ‘pre-emigration paintings by Roerich are rare and highly collectable.’

In 1920 the family moved to the United States, where Roerich and his wife Helena, a theosophist, became celebrated for their enlightened mysticism. They met the Roosevelts and established an arts institution in Manhattan.

Later, the artist was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for the Roerich Pact, an international treaty to protect cultural property from military destruction. Roerich had formulated the idea during the First World War, after witnessing the devastation wreaked upon ancient monuments.

‘Reading his speeches reveals just what a charismatic figure he was,’ says Babenko. ‘He was highly articulate and brilliant at persuading people to do things.’

Over the next 20 years, the Roerichs divided their time between New York and India, which they considered their spiritual home. It was in the Himalayas that the artist painted his most intensely symbolic mountain landscapes.

‘What’s so fascinating,’ says the specialist, ‘is that when you look at The Call of the Sun, you see him experimenting with oil and tempera to create the sublime luminosity and mysticism that he later became celebrated for. It is in this painting that it all began.’