On the mountain slopes 1922

This landscape scene called "On the Mountain Slopes" was painted by Martiros Sarian, and when I look at it, I see a painting built up with gentle strokes of colour, like it gradually appeared through a process of layering and emergence. I can imagine Sarian standing in front of his canvas, squinting at the scene before him, trying to capture the warm glow of the sun-drenched fields, and the cool shadows of the trees. Look closely, and you can see how the colours blend into each other, creating a soft, hazy atmosphere. There's a real tension between flatness and depth here – the way the mountains in the background seem to hover above the fields, and the way the trees are arranged in a row. The little figures in the lower right are so small, but they give the whole scene a sense of scale and perspective. Sarian reminds me of other painters like Milton Avery, who simplified forms down to their essence. Ultimately, painting is about artists speaking to each other across time. It is a conversation, an ongoing exchange of ideas.