Svjatogor Roerich N.K. (Part 5)

Description of the painting "Svyatogor" by Nikolai Roerich

Nicholas Roerich’s painting "Svyatogor" was painted during one of the most fascinating periods of the artist’s life. It is now kept in the Moscow Museum of the Peoples of the East.

The heroic power and unwavering spirit of Russian epic heroes have always attracted the painter and became the subject of several of his paintings. In the most difficult times for Russia, they stood a mighty wall on the borders of our country.

One of the most understudied heroes of the Russian heroic legends is Svyatogor. There is no man who can defeat him, however, and he himself can not cope with their mighty heroic. He walks the earth above the tallest trees can reach the sky. The earth trembles under his mighty footsteps and the seas and lakes go out of their banks. Only the mountains can withstand his power. And forced Svyatogor the hero to live all the time in the mountains, only occasionally appearing in Russia. These profound philosophical motifs are confirmed in the ancient manuscripts in Sanskrit, linking the invisible thread of Russian and Indian folklore. It is to this theme that Roerich turns.

The artist painted "Svyatogor" during his interesting but at the same time dangerous expedition in the Himalayas. In addition to his most famous series of landscapes, he turns to the ancient Russian subject. We cannot know which mountains surround Svyatogor - located in the Russian land or whether it is the Himalayas. Also in the image of a bogatyr we can guess the duality - Russian beard and the attributes of a warrior - helmet and chain mail he combines with Eastern facial features. In the face of Svyatogor can also be seen features of Nicholas Roerich himself, seeking the wisdom of the Russian man in the distant Indian mountains.