Background
Saryan was born in Nakhichevan-on-Don, Russian Empire (now part of Rostov-on-Don, Russian Federation), on February 28, 1880, into an Armenian family.
Moscow, Russian Federation
Martiros Saryan studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (now the Surikov Art Institute in Moscow) from 1897 to 1904.
1941
Martiros Saryan in 1941.
House in Rostov-on-Don where Saryan lived from 1919 to 1921.
Martiros Sarian in 1920s.
Martiros Sarian in his later years.
Martiros Saryan in his later years.
Portrait of Martiros Saryan.
1941
Martiros Saryan in 1941.
Moscow, Russian Federation
Martiros Saryan studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (now the Surikov Art Institute in Moscow) from 1897 to 1904.
House in Rostov-on-Don where Saryan lived from 1919 to 1921.
Martiros Sarian in 1920s.
Martiros Sarian in his later years.
Martiros Saryan in his later years.
Portrait photo of Martiros Saryan.
Portrait of Martiros Saryan.
Saryan was born in Nakhichevan-on-Don, Russian Empire (now part of Rostov-on-Don, Russian Federation), on February 28, 1880, into an Armenian family.
Martiros Saryan completed the Nakhichevan school in 1895 and from 1897 to 1904 he studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (now the Surikov Art Institute in Moscow), including in the workshops of Konstantin Korovin and Valentin Serov.
Saryan was a member of a group of Moscow Symbolist artists, and he started to exhibit his brightly coloured paintings with the group. He was heavily influenced by the work of Paul Gauguin and Henri Matisse. Martiros Saryan exhibited his works in various shows, including the one at the Blue Rose Exhibit in Moscow.
Martiros Saryan visited Armenia, then part of the Russian Empire, for the first time in 1901, visiting Lori, Echmiadzin, Shirak, Sanahin, Haghpat, Yerevan and Sevan. Around this time, he created his first landscapes depicting Armenia, such as Makravank, 1902; Aragats, 1902; Buffalo. Sevan, 1903; Evening in the Garden, 1903; In the Armenian village, 1903, etc. These works were highly praised in the Moscow press.
Saryan continued to paint during his trips to Constantinople (1910; now Istanbul), Egypt (1912), southwestern Armenia (1913), and Persia (1914; Iran). In 1915 he went to Echmiadzin in order to help refugees who had fled from the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire. In 1916 the artist visited Tiflis (now Tbilisi), where he became one of the founders of the Society of Armenian Artists.
These trips inspired him to produce a series of large, frescolike artworks in which he attempted to communicate the sensuality of the Middle Eastern landscapes. He also incorporated the Persian motifs he had seen in the Middle East into a number of his paintings. Like many other Russian artists of the early 20th century, Saryan was heavily influenced by Impressionism.
When the Bolshevik seized power in 1917, Saryan settled with his family in Russia. In 1921 they moved to Armenia. Most of his work reflected the Armenian landscape, but he also designed the coat of arms for the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic and the curtain for the first Armenian state theatre.
In Yerevan he became director of the museum of archaeology, ethnography, and fine arts now called the National Gallery of Armenia. The artist spent most of his career painting scenes, especially landscapes, of his adopted homeland. He often employed the Impressionist technique of using vivid, dappled colour to capture the effects of light. He also painted many floral still lifes as well as portraits.
From 1926-1928 he resided in Paris, but most artworks from this period were burnt. From 1928 until his death, Saryan lived in Soviet Armenia.
In the 1930s, he mainly devoted himself again to landscape painting, and also portraits. He also was chosen as a deputy to the USSR Supreme Soviet.
In addition to painting, Saryan produced illustrations for books, including Armenian Folk Tales (1933), and he also designed sets and costumes for the theatre. He served as a deputy to the second, third, and fourth convocations of the USSR’s Supreme Soviet, the country’s highest legislative body.
Martiros Saryan was the major and one of the most outstanding Armenian painter of landscapes, still lifes, and portraits. He was known as the founder of a modern Armenian national school of painting.
He was awarded the Order of Lenin three times, USSR State Prize in 1941, and Lenin Prize. He received the title of the People's Painter of the USSR, the Hero of Socialist Labour.
Constantinople
Ararat
Ararat
Morning in Stavrin
Village Makravank
By the sea
Armenian village
Portrait of Nina Komurdzhyan
Fruit shop
Akulis
Blue flowers
Flowers
Evening Walk
In Persia
Heat. Running Dog.
Flowers
Wildflowers
Egyptian woman
Eastern flowers
Light gamma
Sofia Gevorkian
Mount Aragats
Poet Onoprios Anopyan
At the spring
Portrait of I. Shchukin
Green jug and bouquet
Mount Abul and passing camels
Fellah village
Under the trees
Kara-Dag Mountain
Armenian dance
Self-portrait
Panthers
Still life.Fruits.
The day
Old Tbilisi
King with daughter
Mules, laden with hay
At Sambek
Fairy lake
Portrait of Sanduht
Shelving field (On the slope of the mountain)
Flowers from Chamlych
Apple trees in blossom
Egyptian women
Portrait of Mnatsakan Gyulnazaryan
Yellow flowers
Landscape with capra
Morning in Stavrin
Wildflowers
Under the trees
Fairy tale
Armenian from Nakhichevan
Buddhist still life
Armenian woman with bağlam
By the river
Hyenas
Peasants
The emblem of the Union of Armenian Artists
Fruits on the blue plate
Pumpkin and pepper
A street. Constantinople.
Bars and women
Red horse
A street. Constantinople.
Eastern interior
Lilac
Blossoming mountains
Trees
Persia
Irises
Surb Khach
Landscape. Mount Aragats.
Fairy tale. Garden of Eden.
Peonies
Portrait of critic Garegin Levonian
Fairy tale
Dream
Kalaki (Gohtan)
Blue pitcher
Constantinople
A street. Noon.
Bulls
Orpheus
Memphis
Mother of the artist
Gohtan mountains
Ararat
Egyptian women
Near pomegranate tree
Love
A lilac bush
Princess
Aragats in clouds
By the sea
Flowering branch
Walking woman
Bouquet in blue vase
Flowering peaches
Wisteria
Self-portrait
Aragats and Mount Ara
Flowers of Kalaki
Khor Virap
Landscape with mountains. Surb Khach rocks. Gohtan.
Flowers against the backdrop of carpet
Persian house
Still life
Fantasy
A street
Self-portrait
Meadow flowers
Eastern tale
Armenia
Gohtan (Tanakert)
Trees in blossom
Night Landscape. Egypt.
Riders at the river
Gazelles near the tree
Armenia
Portrait of the poet Alexander Tsaturyan
A street. Evening.
Mount Aragats at summer
Fairy tale. At the foot of Mount Ararat.
Piping shepherd
By the water
In armenian village
Flowers of Sambek
By the sea
In the Grove in Sambek
In Barfursh. Persia.
Trees in blossom
Desert
Flowers of Asia
A tree
Mountains
Plow
Violet jug
In the shadow
Mount Shamiram
A bull
Family
Ararat in clouds
In Yerevan
Red flowers
Seller of lemonade
Evening in the mountains
A comet
Arabian dancer
On the horse
Bank of the Nile
Egyptian masks
Big eastern still life
Hrazdan River
Armenian village
Dogs
A street. Constantinople.
Persian still life
Vase
Jewish Ladies in Persia
Street in Barfrush
Grapes
Still Life with Jug and Fruit
Date palm
Blossoming Garden
The head of the girl (Mariam Tazahulahyan)
Aragats
Persian woman
Woman with mask (S. I. Dymshits)
Rural landscape
Fellah village
Street in Cairo
Fabric saleswoman
Flowers
Fruits
Enchantment of the Sun
Poet
Blossoming tree
Armenian
Flowers of Armenia
In the Caucasus (Tiflis)
Self-portrait
Nile near Aswan
A yard
Lotus
Landscape in Kalaki (Gohtan)
Steppe flowers
Evening in the garden
The girl, leopard and trees
Egyptian night
At the well
Flowers
Portrait of mother
On the mountain slopes
Seller of greens
Surb Sarkis (St. Sarkis Church in Yerevan)
Vartan Mamikonian
Walking woman
To the spring
Still life. Bananas.
Saryan became a member of the USSR Art Academy in 1974 and the Armenian Academy of Sciences in 1956.
In 1916 Martiros Saryan got married to Lusik Agayan. Their son Ghazaros (Lazarus) Saryan became a composer and educator. Saryan’s great-granddaughter, Mariam Petrosyan, is also a painter, cartoonist and award-winning novelist.
