“Spies,” created by Nicholas Roerich in 1900, is an oil painting on canvas measuring 79 x 189 cm. This piece belongs to the Art Nouveau (Modern) movement and depicts a genre painting. It is currently housed at the Nizhny Novgorod State Museum of Fine Arts in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.
The artwork portrays three figures, presumably spies, cloaked in dark garments crawling stealthily across a snow-covered landscape. The scene, set against the backdrop of a distant, shadowy settlement rendered in muted, cool tones, evokes a sense of secrecy and urgency. The figures blend seamlessly into their surroundings, emphasizing both their covert mission and the harsh, cold environment they navigate. The subdued palette and the soft, impressionistic handling of form and light are characteristic of Roerich’s style, contributing to the overall atmosphere of mystery and tension in the painting.