Mountain Aragats 1917

Yeghishe Tadevosyan made this painting, Mountain Aragats, with oil on canvas. It's a real lesson in how to make a painting soft and hazy without losing a sense of depth. Look at the way he's used color, especially in the foreground. Those greens and browns feel like they've been mixed right on the canvas, a kind of "alla prima" that gives the whole scene a fresh, immediate feel. And then your eye travels up to the mountain, that big, snow-covered peak, rendered in these cool blues and whites. I love the way the paint is applied so thinly here, almost transparent in places. You can practically feel the wind blowing through the grass. It reminds me a bit of Corot, that same attention to light and atmosphere, that same feeling that you're standing right there in the field, breathing in the mountain air. It's a lovely example of how a painting can be both a record of a place and an emotional experience.