Ararat 1923

Martiros Sarian painted 'Ararat' with what looks like oil on canvas, though I'm not sure when. The marks are loose, almost like color notations, with a real sense of trying to capture something fleeting, not necessarily in a photorealistic way. Look at how Sarian lays down the blue of the sky. It's not just a flat wash, but full of variations, as if he’s thinking about light and atmosphere, a kind of visual thinking-through-paint. The physicality of the medium is apparent - it’s not trying to hide the fact that it’s made of paint. I’m drawn to the brushstrokes that define the fields in the middle ground. They're not fussy or detailed, but they give a sense of depth and texture, a real sense of place. It reminds me a little of Cezanne, that idea of building up form with blocks of color. Ultimately, it's about looking and feeling, and maybe understanding that a painting is always a translation, an interpretation, not a perfect copy.