Spring in Kulu & Mount of Five Treasures (Two Worlds)

“Mount of Five Treasures (Two Worlds)” (1933)

A Russian painter, writer, archaeologist, theosophist, philosopher, and public figure, who influenced a movement in Russian society around the spiritual. He was interested in spiritual practices and his paintings are said to have hypnotic expression.

Born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, he lived around the world until his death in Naggar, Himachal Pradesh, India. Trained as an artist and a lawyer, his main interests were literature, philosophy, archaeology, and especially art. Roerich was a dedicated activist for the cause of preserving art and architecture during times of war. He earned several nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize. The Roerich Pact was signed into law by the United States and most nations of the Pan-American Union in April 1935.

Roerich matriculated simultaneously at St. Petersburg University and the Imperial Academy of Arts during 1893. He received the title of "artist" in 1897 and a degree in law. He directed the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts from 1906 to 1917. He was President of Sergei Diaghilev's "World of Art" society from 1910 to 1916.

Artistically, he became known as his generation's most talented painter of Russia's ancient past, compatible with his lifelong interest in archaeology. He also succeeded as a stage designer, achieving his greatest fame as one of the designers for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. His best-known designs were for Borodin's Prince Igor (1909) and costumes and set for The Rite of Spring (1913), composed by Igor Stravinsky.

Another of Roerich's passions was architecture. His acclaimed publication "Architectural Studies" (1904–1905) – the dozens of paintings he completed of fortresses, monasteries, churches, and other monuments during two long trips through Russia – inspired his decades-long career as an activist on behalf of artistic and architectural preservation. He also designed religious art for places of worship throughout Russia and Ukraine: most notably the Queen of Heaven fresco for the Church of the Holy Spirit; and the stained glass windows for the Datsan Gunzechoinei Buddhist Temple in St. Petersburg (1913–1915).

During the 1900s and in the early 1910s, Roerich, along with his wife Helena, developed an interest in eastern religions, as well as Theosophy. Both Roerichs became avid readers of the Vedantist essays of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda, the poetry of Rabindranath Tagore, and the Bhagavad Gita. The Roerichs' commitment to occult mysticism increased steadily. It was especially intense during World War I and the Russian revolution of 1917, to which the couple, like many Russian intellectuals, accorded apocalyptic significance. The influence of Theosophy, Vedanta, Buddhism, and other mystical topics can be see in many of his paintings and in the many short stories and poems Roerich wrote before and after the 1917 revolutions, including the Flowers of Morya cycle, begun in 1907 and completed in 1921.

“Spring in Kulu” (1930)