Night Landscape. Egypt. 1911

Martiros Sarian painted this Egyptian night landscape in oil, but the date is unknown. Look at the way he’s pushed the boundaries of color, bathing the scene in these cool, nocturnal blues, yet hinting at warmer tones underneath. You know, artmaking is a process, and here you can really see Sarian thinking through his choices. The paint is applied with a certain directness. Not much fussing, just laying down the tones and letting them vibrate against each other. Notice the donkey in the bottom corner. It’s like a shadow, barely there, but it anchors the whole composition. It's a deep, dark patch, yet somehow it gives the other colors a chance to sing. Sarian reminds me a bit of Milton Avery. Both artists knew how to distill a scene down to its essence. This piece isn’t trying to tell you everything; it embraces ambiguity. It invites you to bring your own experiences, your own dreams, to the canvas. That’s what makes art so endlessly fascinating, isn’t it?