For Nikolai Konstantinovich Roerich, the Himalayas were not just the greatest mountain range, but these mountains reminded with their beauty and uncommonness the real treasury of big snow. In the painting of Roerich “Kanchendzhang” created in 1936, the artist depicted the great five-peak mountain in the Himalayas. This mountain is one of the largest eight-thousand-mile peaks in the world, that is, whose total height is more than eight thousand meters above sea level. Kanchenjangu Roerich depicted in various states of day and night, morning fogs and evening sunset lights. All these mountain images were diverse and unusual, among them there were no similar, similar works. Every artistic image of the author was different and was self-sufficient and complete.
The picture “Kanchenjunga” combines the subtle effect of light tempera paints and sharp outlines of mountain peaks. Soft complex shades of color act as a kind of compositional-coloristic equilibrium, harmonizing the severity of the pattern of rocky mountains and free lush clouds, inseparable from the cold mountain mists of multi-color and multi-layered. The space of the sky in this work of Roerich is spelled out as a single dense colorful layer in one bright blue tone.
The mountain peak of Kanchendzhang looks like a true treasure trove of snow, thanks to its white matte shades. The edges of the mountains with a luminous pale spirit appear in this absolutely pure transparent air, in which all colors dazzle and surround with their active luminescence. The image of the mountains is volumetric and sounds like a single system of white-blue contrasts. The image of cool air and fogs is blurred outlines and blurred silhouettes and a linear pattern.
The clouds resemble a “wonderful hail”, caressed by the heat and bliss of the sun’s rays. Tempera paints as well as possible convey these pink, purple, lilac stripes of multi-layered clouds, resembling an unknown city that is heavenly to no one. This heavenly quiet city serves as a modest abode for clouds, pink mists and wind. Kanchenjunga is the real abode of the spirit, white snow, cold starlight, bright blue sky and the silence of mountain lights.
The picturesque work of the mysterious artist Nicholas Roerich “Kanchendzhang” draws before us not so much a mountainous landscape, as a real image of the spiritualized nature, where every particle of life is filled with the meaning and dream of the spirit. The depth and openness of the colors indicate the depth of the artistic intention and the depth of the spiritual aspirations of the artist himself.
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