Voskevaz Aragats Etude 1954

Petros Malayan made this painting, Voskevaz Aragats Etude, with oil on canvas. The palette is all cool blues, purples and greens and he seems to be really into the materiality of paint. Looking at the mountain range in the distance you can see Malayan using a directional stroke to describe the contours of the form. Up close you can see the paint is applied quite thickly, but in a way that still manages to convey the light and atmosphere of the landscape. The way he describes space is so interesting. It’s almost like he's building the landscape up in layers, one on top of the other. It reminds me a little of Cezanne, who was also obsessed with how to depict three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface. In the end, the painting becomes a place where we can experience the world anew.