Going to Valhalla

Pantheons + Name Aesthetics :

Recently I published an article about the Russian painter Nicholas Roerich and the representations of the rus (Eastern Vikings) in his paintings in Notícias Asgardianas, a Brazilian magazine specialized in Viking and Nordic studies.

Abstract: 

Nicholas Roerich was a prominent Russian painter from the early twentieth century who had a deep interest in the distant past of his nation. He is best know for his collaboration with Stravinsky in the ballet Rite of Spring, his contemplative painting of the Himalayas and the close relationship he had with the East and Buddhism in the second half of his life; however, in his first pictorial stage one of the recurring themes in his work are representations of the Eastern Vikings, the Rus. Roerich created numerous works about aspects of customs and daily life of the Rus, like their ships, tombs and idols. In this article I study these works, examining the visions that the artist created about those Norse travelers and merchants who made incursions and settled in what today is western Russia, as well as exploring the origins of the painter’s interest in this subject and the work that he did as an archaeologist in his youth, issues which clearly influenced his historical paintings.