Martiros Saryan Museum

The father of modern Armenian painting (1880-1972) was still living in the house, where it was decided to found a museum and exhibit his works of art (1967). Small and neat, it presents its magnificent drawings, paintings, and studio. Martiros Saryan was born in Russia in 1880 and attended the Art Academy of Moscow. After long journeys, he settled in Armenia and devoted his work entirely to his country. With his expressive, colourful pictures Saryan belongs to the most significant classics of the modern age.

Saryan's paintings, which were created in bright colours, represent a new aesthetic perception and allow us to understand that art is not just an imitation of reality, but the use of free imagination and abstraction. At the same time, Saryan uses simple natural forms in his paintings and always believes in nature as his main mentor. At the beginning of the 1910s, Saryan was a courageous innovator who brilliantly combined the artistic traditions of the East with the new tendencies of European painting of the 20th century. The artist was also recognized in Russia, where some of his paintings were acquired by the famous Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, others were exhibited in Europe.

In 1921, Saryan settled in Armenia to participate in his spiritual rebirth. The ideology of the Soviet country in which he lived had created certain difficulties for the artist's free creative development. But the artist remained true to the principles of his own style. The previously developed artistic techniques and expressive style were enriched with new content. As the founder of the modern Armenian school of painting, Saryan maintained the timeless and humanistic values of a sublime art in his paintings. That's why his artistic heritage is spread worldwide. 

The museum building consists of a two-storied mansion in which the artist lived and worked from 1932-1972 and to which a three-story gallery was added in 1967. The author of the project of the house was Alexander Tamanyan, who was the eminent architect of Yerevan, the capital of the country. The museum part was designed by Mark Grigoryan. The peculiarity of the collection of the house museum is that all the works and sketches, which were in the house and in the studio in the last years, are gathered there. Saryan's 50 works which were donated to the museum became the core of the fund. Later, the fund was raised through donations and purchases. Nowadays, the popularization of Master's art and the creation of the database of his works are the main objectives of the House Museum. The research is carried out in the museum and the chronicle of the life and creativity of the artist are being created. The memoirs, manuscripts and letters, as well as the complete catalogue of his works,  have been prepared for the press. Together with the chamber music concerts, the museum also organizes social and educational activities for children and adolescents.

The exposition of the House Museum depicts all epochs and genres of the artist's creativity, from the first drawings made at the age of 16 to the works created in the last months of his life. The permanent exhibition with over 300 works is in chronological order on the three floors of the museum. It also contains the famous works of the Saryan family. The studio of the artist, his "holy place" of the museum is also open to visitors. A museum is a well-known place to visit in Yerevan. It allows its visitors to get acquainted with Armenian art and enjoy the colourful pictures of Martiros Saryan.