Portrait of Academician Josef Orbeli 1943

Martiros Sarian painted this portrait of Academician Josef Orbeli in 1943 with oil on canvas, and you can see how each brushstroke seems like a thought, laid down with both purpose and spontaneity. Looking at the work, I’m really drawn to how Sarian handles the materiality of paint. It's neither overly thick nor meticulously blended. Instead, you see a directness, especially in the planes of the face and beard. Check out how that white is dabbed and pulled across the beard; it’s almost sculptural. Sarian’s color palette here is so interesting: a mix of earth tones punctuated by blues and greens in the background that feel both grounded and dreamy. It reminds me a little of Klimt, actually, with this interesting combination of realism and abstraction. There's an ambiguity here that invites multiple readings, and for me, that's where the magic of painting really lives.