A nook of old Yerevan 1928

Martiros Sarian painted "A nook of old Yerevan" with oils, and he didn't just represent a scene, he built a world. Look at the way he handles the paint – loose, thick strokes that somehow snap together to form buildings and figures, a whole townscape that's solid and dreamy at the same time. The materiality here is key. The paint is like plaster and light, baked into the canvas. The surface is alive with texture. Check out the shadows especially, how they're not just dark, but chunky, built from slabs of blues and greys that feel almost palpable. Each mark feels intuitive, like a response to the last, a dance of color and form. This feels like his Fauvist period, perhaps a nod to Matisse in its celebration of light, color and shape, though I’m also reminded of Derain’s landscapes. Like them, he suggests that art is more about feeling than accurately representing the world and embraces ambiguity and multiple interpretations.