Fruits on the blue plate 1915

Martiros Sarian painted these fruits on a blue plate with oil on canvas. Look at the confident brushstrokes and the way the colours almost vibrate against each other. I imagine Sarian, standing before his canvas, lost in the sheer pleasure of looking at fruit. He's got this blue plate, right, this unreal blue, almost singing. And the fruit! Not your usual still life peaches and apples, but something wilder, more exotic. I see what looks like persimmons, maybe a quince. The colours are dialed up, not quite real, but full of feeling. You see that bold stroke of green that defines the edge of the plate? That’s where Sarian really gets down to business. You can feel his hand moving, laying down that line with purpose. Painting is a conversation, right? And Sarian is telling us something about seeing, about feeling, about making marks that mean something. Like Matisse or Derain he is simplifying the forms and intensifying the colors to express a sensation, a memory, or a mood.