Gathering of grapes 1933

Martiros Sarian's 'Gathering of Grapes' is awash with broad strokes and sunny yellows. I can imagine him standing before the canvas, brush loaded, deciding where to place each daub of color, almost like planting seeds in a garden. There's a real sense of immediacy and directness in the way Sarian lays down paint. Look at the mountains in the distance, rendered with such simple, confident strokes—it’s like he's saying, "Here's a mountain, no fuss!" I can imagine him thinking about the tradition of landscape painting, but deciding to do something different, something more personal. The figures, the houses, the landscape – everything is built up from these intuitive marks. They remind me of Van Gogh or even Matisse in their freedom and expressiveness. What Sarian is doing feels like a distillation of form and feeling.