Self-portrait 

Curator: Immediately striking! A potent and expressive rendering in what looks like oil paint. The palette just vibrates – high contrast, very saturated… it feels almost confrontational, doesn’t it? Editor: Indeed. We are looking at "Self-portrait" by Minas Avetisyan, a painter who, though relatively unknown in the West, stands as a titan of 20th-century Armenian art. Curator: Armenian art... I see echoes of other movements, particularly German Expressionism. The raw emotion feels aligned. Are there influences you can identify? Editor: Absolutely. While deeply rooted in Armenian artistic traditions, Avetisyan demonstrably engaged with European avant-gardes. The vibrant colours, impasto technique, and distorted forms speak directly to Expressionist principles. More broadly, though, the image feels grounded within histories of artistic self-representation. Curator: Note how Avetisyan positions himself in front of a stylized landscape. What readings can you extract from the interplay of this "inner" self with the backdrop? Editor: I’d propose a couple of things. Perhaps the tumultuous landscape reflects the artist’s inner emotional state. Think of Van Gogh using nature in a similar, projective manner. Secondly, look at how the flattening of pictorial space pushes the background forward. We aren't simply peering in at this individual—the painting insists that this landscape is *part* of who he is. A critical element to how the world outside the figure can be a kind of costume as much as identity. Curator: That melding resonates deeply. And there's an arresting symbolic ambiguity to it all, a fusion of the external world with a highly individuated interior experience. Editor: A hallmark, I think, of powerful portraiture generally, and indicative here of a truly compelling artist wrestling with questions of self and place, especially against the political history of displacement experienced throughout Armenian history. The politics are baked into every shade in this portrait, so to speak. Curator: Right. This picture is not just about looking *at* someone but conveying profound feelings *with* that someone—I agree that makes this "Self-Portrait" so deeply impactful. Thank you. Editor: Thank you. Looking forward to the next.