Panthers 1907

Martiros Sarian, sometime in the 20th century, made this painting, Panthers, with a dreamy palette of blues, greens, and yellows. It’s hard to resist thinking about how paintings come into being, right? I mean, what was he thinking? I imagine Sarian standing before the canvas, brush in hand, maybe squinting a little. And then the first marks! See how the paint is kind of thin, almost translucent in places, and thicker in others? The way he's layered the paint, especially in those trees, gives them this ethereal, glowing quality, like they're lit from within. The panther itself, how it strides so confidently across the foreground. It's not just an animal; it's a symbol, a feeling. I feel like Sarian's work carries echoes of other artists like Matisse and Derain, you know, those Fauvist painters who weren’t afraid to use color in bold and expressive ways. It’s like they're all in conversation, across time and space, riffing on each other's ideas. And that’s the thing about painting, isn’t it? It’s not about answers; it's about questions, about opening up possibilities.