Mount Shamiram 1922

Martiros Sarian painted "Mount Shamiram" with oil on canvas, and it’s all about how colour can build a world. The mountain itself is this ochre-reddish presence. See those broad, simple strokes? There's no fussiness here, just pure pigment doing the work of suggesting form and depth. The paint isn’t trying to trick you into thinking it’s a real mountain, it's enjoying being paint. And that field below, a symphony of yellow and muted greens, it's like a stage set for the mountain. The trees are almost like notes on a musical score, evenly spaced, creating a rhythm that leads your eye back to that big, beautiful mountain. I'm reminded of Milton Avery, with that similar way of simplifying shapes and letting colour sing. It's like Sarian knew that less can be so much more. There’s a sense of endless conversation in art, isn’t there?