Nicholas Roerich

1874

Nicholas Roerich is born in St. Petersburg, Russia, on October 9.

1893

Enrolls in the Academy of Art and at St. Petersburg University.

1897

Roerich’s graduation project ‘The Messenger: Tribe has Risen Against Tribe’ is acclaimed by many, including author Leo Tolstoy, who is impressed with the work.

Late 1890s

Travels extensively through Europe and spends a year in Paris where he is particularly struck by the works of Paul Gauguin, Edgar Degas and muralist Pierre Puvis de Chavannes.

1901

Returns to Russia and marries Helena Ivanovna Shaposhikova. Paints The Idols, among the most important of his early works dealing with pagan mysticism, cosmic nature and harmony with nature.

1904

Promulgates his plan of advocating a scheme to ensure protection of cultural treasures in Russia. This would evolve into the Roerich Pact three decades later.

1906

Is designated head of the Drawing School of the Emperor’s Society for Promotion of Arts and makes it one of Russia’s most prominent art institutions.

1907

Begins to paint stage sets that are highly acclaimed and designs costumes for operas, ballets and plays.

1917-19

Leaves Russia when the Bolshevik Revolution gains ground; goes to Finland. Some of his best-known works from his Saints series are painted during this time, including St. Mercurius. Leaves Finland following its independence and moves to London.

1920

Rabindranath Tagore calls on Roerich in his London flat.

1920-23

Travels extensively in America. He is one of the first painters from Russia to visit the country. His first exhibition, in the winter of 1921, witnesses a crowd of ten thousand people on the opening day.

1923

Receives a meteorite stone in a hotel in Paris, a talisman he calls the Chintamani stone of mythology, and which accompanies him on his travels including his Central Asian expeditions. Roerich Museum is established in New York. Arrives in India at Bombay and heads to Darjeeling in the Himalayas.

1924-28

Begins a Central Asian expedition with his wife Helena and son Yuri (the younger son Svetoslav joined only in the beginning) to Chinese Turkestan, Altai, Mongolia, Tibet and Sikkim. The outcome of this expedition is five hundred paintings uncovering the beauty of the region. The expedition spans three continents and sixteen thousand miles.

1929

Settles in the Kullu valley’s Naggar. His home there is now a museum. Is nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize (he will be nominated twice more, in 1932 and 1935).

1930-31

Undertakes his second Central Asian expedition.

1931

Paints Banner of Peace, a representation of the symbol and banner that is to be flown over cultural buildings and monuments to protect them in times of war and peace from destruction. Participants of the first conference of the Roerich Pact in Bruges are given a welcome reception by its municipality.

1935

American President Franklin D. Roosevelt and representatives of twenty Latin American countries sign the Roerich Peace pact at the White House on 15 April.

1940s

Develops friendships with eminent Indians, including Rabindranath Tagore, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, S. Radhakrishnan and Jagdish Chandra Bose.

1945

Son Svetoslav Roerich marries Indian movie actress and studio head Devika Rani; they settle in Bangalore.

1947

Dies in Kullu on December 13; a monolithic rock marks his grave with the word ‘Maharishi’. The same year publications on the Pact appear—there are a large number of such publications.

1955

Wife Helena, living still in India, dies.

1979

Nicholas Roerich joins the rank of nine National Treasure artists in India, the only one who was not born or trained in India, or of Indian nationality.

1988, '99

The Banner of Peace is raised at the North Pole by the famous traveller, Fyodor Konyukhov, in 1988. In 1999, participants of the first international complex Antarctic expedition ‘Towards XXI’ raise the Banner of Peace at the South Pole. The banners from these expeditions are now exhibited in the International Centre of the Roerichs.

1989

The Soviet Foundation of the Roerichs is created in Moscow.

2004

The banner with the three-sphere symbol is presented to the Dalai Lama. As part of the celebration of Roerich’s hundredth anniversary, the Banner of Peace, which had been to the space station, is presented to the Indian Parliament. Taking the banner, Speaker Somnath Chatterji says: ‘It will be kept in the library of Indian Parliament as a most precious treasure.’