Tibetan Dzong

Visionary, master painter and world citizen, Nicholas Roerich is one of the outstanding personalities of this or any other century. Unquestionably one of the most interesting and prolific of 20th century painters, his large canvasses run to the several thousands, each one a masterpiece of daring composition, glowing color harmony and massive effect. Himalayan is the word not only for his art, but also for his soul as well. Nicholas was a daring pioneer as mystic, poet, thinker and scientist and his output as a writer was great and voluminous. From his mountain home in Kullu, India, he kept himself in touch with every progressive idea and movement in the outer world and often guided them with his wisdom and practical help. His versatility is amazing; his capacity for work, prodigious.

Nicholas Roerich known also as Nikolai Konstantinovich Rerikh– was a Russian painter, writer, archaeologist, theosophist, perceived by some in Russia as an enlightener, philosopher, and public figure, who in his youth was influenced by a movement in Russian society around the spiritual.   Nicholas was interested in hypnosis and other spiritual practices and his paintings are said to have hypnotic expression. Born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to a well-to-do notary public father of Baltic German ancestry and a Russian mother, he lived in various places 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 long list. The so-called Roerich Pact was signed into law by the United States and most nations of the Pan-American Union in April 1935.