THE PAINTERS OF SORROW. Cont'd.
The Poet at the Feet of
Aragats, 1906 by Saryan
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Since1909,
Sarayan turned his attention to Armenia's everyday life, taking as his
subjects ancient sites untouched by civilization and materialistic progress.
Nature was sacred to him. Particularly, the Armenian landscape and sceneries.
Light was very important to Sarayan, for he considered light as the symbol of
Armenia and Christian religion. Light represented the eternal and religious
fervor of Christianity which was nourished by the Armenian struggles during
the Ottoman occupation. In that respect, he has become the patron artist of
Armenia.
Near
the Wells by Saryan, 1908
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Sarayan was deeply influenced and inspired by French masters of the era,
notably the French Impressionists such as Henri Matisse, Monet, Gauguin
and many others with whom he created a movement known as “THE BLUE ROSE
GROUP” solely established to defend this new style of painting and
defending its credibility, artistic values and legitimacy in the European
communities, societies, salons, centers, milieux and critics circles.
Ironically enough, later on in Paris, Pablo Picasso and Georges
Braques will do the same thing by creating their own group to defend their
cubism movement and abstract art which were at the beginning of the dawn of
their creation extremely ridiculed in the society and press. At the beginning
of the Impressionism movement, nobody in the art world, art critic circles and
media would take this art form seriously. And to make it worse and more
difficult for those Impressionist artists, no gallery owner or museum curator
will exhibit their work. It was not recognized nor accepted. Saryan was in the
recognized
and recognizable, particularly in portraiture. For instance, upon painting a
portrait, Saryan would create and incorporate related and unrelated objects
and images for the background of his painting.
Many of Saryan's paintings
have a permanent home in Yerevan, Armenia and two museums:
- The Martiros Saryan Museum in Yerevan
- The Kazakstan State Museum of Arts