The Nicholas Roerich Museum

The Nicholas Roerich Museum features the sweeping, fantastical, and phantasmagorical paintings of the eponymous dead Russian artist, and is a located in a beautiful brownstone house in the Upper West Side of Manhattan.   Inundated by natural light, the three-story house contains over a hundred of Roerich’s original canvas paintings.  Roerich lived from 1874 – 1947 and was essentially a Renaissance Man (painter, writer, engineer, archaeologist, theologian, and gigolo).  With his wife he traveled the globe, perhaps more so than any other major artist of his time, and it is clear from his motifs (and probably from the many books he has written) that he was a very spiritual person.  His paintings of Himalayan mountain scenes are vibrant and rich in color.  He often incorporates metaphysical or mystical elements (faces in cliffs, ancient petroglyphs carved into rocks, monks radiating light) into his paintings, which provided an added dimension of mythological profundity and surrealism.  Next time you're in New York, pay a visit to this museum, which could use some more visitor support, although admission is donation-based (other than the old lady at the desk, no one else was there when I went...).  Right-click on the images to see them in full.