The Sinister (1901)

In Russian fairy tales crows are the wisest of all birds. Songs and stories endue them with the ability to speak and presage. They are silent guardians of mysteries, endowed with the ability to anticipate the worst. Roerich was able to convey a sense of fearful anxiety and alertness. Knowing how in later years the current social events were reflected in Roerich’s art, one could argue that The Sinister was his first attempt to symbolically express his attitude to modernity. After returning from abroad, Roerich could not help feeling the tense situation in the country. Revitalisation of the labor movement, peasant and student unrest, political killings - all this made Roerich think about the inevitability of reconstruction of the whole way of life in Russia. A motif of proclamation of ominous events is present in The Sinister.