Yerevan 1923

Martiros Sarian made this painting, Yerevan, with oils on canvas. I can picture him outside, squinting a little in the sun, trying to see what's there. The brushstrokes are like concentrated jabs of color, pinks and yellows and greens, that make up the trees and buildings. The colors are not exactly how you’d see them, but what it feels like to see them! There’s this real tension between the flat shapes and the illusion of depth—how did he get those sun-drenched walls so solid, so there? The red and orange shrub is kind of a wild card in there, though. It’s like BAM! It makes me think of other painters like Matisse, who just put color down like it was its own thing, not just trying to copy nature. It’s like Sarian is in conversation with all of them. And really, that’s what painting is all about: a big, messy conversation across time.