Landscape with mountains. Surb Khach rocks. Gohtan. 1914

Editor: This is Martiros Sarian's "Landscape with Mountains. Surb Khach Rocks. Gohtan," painted in 1914, using oil and mixed media. It's really striking – the colors are so bold and the mountain forms are almost abstract. What do you make of this piece? Curator: Ah, Sarian. He always had a way of boiling down a landscape to its essence. To me, it feels like a memory, not a photographic representation, but more like the feeling of a place. Notice how he uses color, the dominance of ochre, the browns, even the little smudges of contrasting green… it all feels intensely personal. Editor: It does feel very subjective, not just something he’s seeing, but something he's feeling. What's your take on the brushstrokes? They look pretty deliberate and expressive. Curator: Exactly! See how they build the shapes? Each stroke feels like a breath, short and powerful. Sarian wasn’t just depicting mountains, but rather breathing life into them, letting them emanate a distinct feeling. The landscape is less about geographic accuracy and more about… a soulful resonance. Almost like a hymn. Do you catch the underlying tension there, too? Editor: Now that you mention it, yes! A tension between the solid forms of the mountains and the almost dreamlike quality of the colours and textures. Like a real place filtered through emotion. Curator: Indeed. It's an example of Expressionism where raw emotion is captured. I find myself wondering what Sarian was feeling in 1914 as he looked at these forms. Maybe a longing, perhaps even a melancholy reflection. I also imagine being there and seeing this amazing place. What a wonderful way to be invited into his memories, huh? Editor: Absolutely! I'll definitely look at landscapes differently from now on. Thank you for these insights!