Bulletin Roerich N.K. (Part 6)

Description of Nikolai Roerich’s painting The Messenger

The strikingly beautiful painting, created in a technique using a tempera palette of colors, was created by the artist in 1924. Subsequently, in 1925, in Adyar, he gave it to the Theosophical Society in the person of its founder - a unique Russian woman - Blavatsky Elena Petrovna. She had an unusually high degree of cultural and moral education, and the refined beauty of the Renaissance ideals.

The canvas depicts a Buddhist temple, immersed through a half-opened door in the dawn rays of the sun, and meeting the Messenger, a beautiful woman in oriental attire.

Who is he, this strange wayfarer? What news does he bring? Ignorance and the first, stirred the mind, feelings make the heart beat even faster in anticipation of discovering the mystery of such an unexpected guest. After all, news can be completely unpredictable and come from everywhere, warning or guarding against some event, which is what the woman heard.

Thus, the symbolic gesture of the right hand of a man, which in Buddhism means the mudra of self-improvement and who of an important event, in the work of Roerich repeatedly displayed. The theme of the messenger and the messenger, who carried important news, was one of the priority themes in the painting.

The predominance of violet-greenish hues in the picture, combined with the golden hues of the sun’s rays, characterize the oppressed and anxious atmosphere of the unexpected visit, and the woman’s delicate pink garment softens and eliminates the resulting anxiety. Her image, symbolizes intuition and the image of the savior, and finds resemblance to the image of Helena Blavatsky, who revealed in her works the meaning of Genesis, thus being a majestically - solemn Messenger. The image of the Buddha symbolizes the soothing of the soul, peace and tranquility.