Big eastern still life 1915

Martiros Sarian made this big eastern still life painting with oil paints. Isn't it cool how he's laid out all these objects, not like a photo, but more like a memory, or a stage set? The masks staring out at you, the fruit scattered, almost like coloured counters. I’m really drawn to the way Sarian handles paint. It's not about making things look real, it’s about making you feel the thing, the place, the mood. Look how the colours bleed into each other! Nothing is outlined, the forms emerge from the colour itself. And those lines in the background are so bold! It’s like he’s saying, "Hey, this is paint, this is a surface, but it's also a window into another world." You could say he owes something to Matisse, maybe, but he’s doing something totally his own. It’s a bit like an abstract painting, but with stories hidden inside.