Martiros Saryan House-Museum (Yerevan, Armenia) – exhibitions, opening hours, address, phone numbers, official website.
Martiros Saryan, the foremost Armenian artist of the 20th century, was given this title. The artist lived all over the world, and in 1932 he settled down in Yerevan, where a spacious house with a studio was built for him. Thirty-five years later a new museum building was added to his house. Nowadays 247 of his works are on display. In total Saryan has about 5000 canvases, which are kept in Tretyakovka, Russian Museum and Museum of Oriental people. But those that are represented in the Yerevan Museum are quite enough to reflect the whole creative way of the artist, starting from his first works as a student and ending with the paintings of the last months of his life.
What to see
On the first floor are graphic works: sketches, illustrations, sketches for theater scenery, drawings of the last years of the master’s life (1971-1972). There is also a memorial room with Saryan’s personal belongings. Among the interesting exhibits is a tea cup, from which the artist drank tea prepared according to a special recipe: with salt, milk and butter, a box of Le France paints. The rooms where he and his children Lazarus and Arax Saryan lived are also available to visit.
While transporting his paintings to the USSR from France, Saryan lost part of his collection in a fire. Fortunately, the works were insured, so for the rest of his life the French government provided the painter with paint from Le France.
On the second floor are the main works of the author: landscapes created in Armenia, still lifes, portraits, works from the Parisian period (1926-1928) and the war years (1941-1945). The third level presents Saryan’s early works, before 1917.
The Saryan style is a simplified, somewhat angular drawing, generalized forms of depicted objects, a modern interpretation of the ancient artistic traditions of Armenian art.
Practical information
Address: Yerevan, 3 M. Saryan St. Website.
Working hours: October-May: Friday-Wednesday 11:00-18:00, Thursday off; June-September: no days off.
Admission: 1000 AMD; for pupils, students and retired – 300 AMD; guided tour in Russian – 4000 AMD. On the last Saturday of each month admission is free. Prices on the page are for June 2021.
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