Flowers of Sevan Pass 1958

Martiros Sarian made 'Flowers of Sevan Pass' with oil on canvas using gorgeous reds, yellows, and purples – a whole garden crammed into one picture! You can tell how Sarian was feeling the painting as he worked, adding layer upon layer, building up these amazing blooms. I bet he had a studio full of flowers, or maybe he was just trying to bring the outside in! I imagine him stepping back, squinting, and then diving back in to add another burst of color, pushing the boundaries between abstraction and representation. Look at the way he's daubed those thick strokes of red to suggest the poppies in the foreground – it's not about perfection, it's about energy and life. You can see echoes of Matisse and the Fauves in the intensity of his colors, which gives you a sense of the warmth of Armenia. I think that, like all of us painters, Sarian was in conversation with other painters across time and space. What a joy to see these paintings still bringing delight today!