The Roerich Museum was another magical find on the Peace and Quiet trail. Born in 1874, Nicholas Roerich was a Russian artist, scientist, philosopher, and mystic. The museum is housed in a brownstone on the Upper West Side, and is only open from 2-5 in the afternoon. No one else was there when I went and it felt like an honor to view his paintings enhanced by the fullness of silence.
The painting in the second photo down is titled "The Healer." A shaman once told me that it doesn't matter whether you call such an individual a saint, shaman, or healer, it is simply someone who lives in harmony with, and then can work with, the five elements.
I've heard David Leffel say something similar about painters, that a painter is like a magician in his ability to orchestrate the elements. Through his choices, his arrangement of color, brushstrokes, lights, and darks, he can guide and force your attention.
In the bottom photo, a window with a blue glass vase reflects on a painting of the Himalayas.
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