Heavenly battle (1912)

In all Roerich's paintings, the sky and clouds occupy a special place, full of deep symbolism. In the article "Heavenly Architecture" he writes: "From an early age, heavenly architecture gave one of the greatest joys. Among the first childhood memories are beautiful patterned clouds. Eternal movement, generous rebuilding, powerful creativity for a long time binds the eyes upward. Wonderful animals, heroes fighting with dragons, white horses with wavy manes, boats with colored gilded sails, alluring ghostly mountains - what was not in these endlessly rich, inexhaustible pictures of heaven ... "
In the painting "Heavenly Battle" less than a fifth is occupied by a valley with lakes and pile structures. The rest are swirling clouds, sometimes pierced by golden sunlight, sometimes turning into the blue of thunderclouds. This is a struggle between Light and darkness. The heavenly and the earthly, as it were, split in two, as if they moved away from each other. There is a battle between two principles. There is something hidden in these misguided, warring cloud shapes. At first, figures of flying Valkyries were painted on a copper-sounding cloud, which the artist later turned into clouds: "Let them be invisible" ... Let them be invisible, but these forces are really present there. The pile village, depicted below, seemed to have become quiet in anticipation of the outcome of the battle of the elements.