Mount Abul and passing camels 1912

Martiros Sarian painted this landscape of Mount Abul and some camels with what looks like oil on canvas. Look at the way the mountain’s planes are built up with thick, deliberate strokes. You can almost feel Sarian wrestling with the paint, figuring out the form as he goes. It’s like the mountain is being sculpted right before our eyes. Notice how the dark blues and ochres in the mountain play against the muted browns of the camels and the pale sky. Sarian isn’t trying to trick us into thinking this is real. Instead, he emphasizes the materiality of paint, celebrating its textures and colours. Those camels, tethered together, become part of a dance between representation and abstraction. The colours don’t try to mimic nature, but rather amplify it. Sarian’s bold approach reminds me of the Fauvist painters like Derain or Vlaminck, who used colour to express emotion rather than just describe what they saw. But Sarian brings his own sensibility to the table, rooted in his Armenian heritage and his deep connection to the landscape. It’s a conversation across cultures and time, reminding us that art is always a process of exchange and transformation.