plate no. 4991

View of Ararat from Yerevan

Martiros Sarian, 1923

oilRealismlandscapemountainsbuildingstreeslandscapeskyvillage

what to study here

It shows how a simple dark-light-light value structure and varied edges can build deep space in a landscape with few elements.

Study how three value bands carry the whole picture. The vision analysis describes a near-black green foreground mass of hedges or low trees, a light-to-medium middle band of village and fields, and a pale top band of sky and snow. Squinted, it reads as dark, light, light. The mountain is the lightest shape, so the eye goes to the twin peaks first. The dark foreground pushes the village back and makes the depth. Look at the edges next. The hedge is soft, rounded and dabbed, with scrubbed strokes. The buildings have crisper edges where light hits them and soften on their shadow sides. The mountain's strokes follow its form, and the snow edge stays soft against the sky yet luminous. A dark cypress interrupts the horizontal line of the settlement. The vision guide says light comes from the upper left, with cool grey-blue shadows on the mountain and warm cream and rust on the buildings. Copy the value plan and the edge variety before worrying about color.

key decision

The painter made the foreground vegetation the darkest mass and the snow-capped mountain the lightest shape. This sets up the dark-to-light recession that pushes the village back and makes the peaks glow.

recreation guide

Martiros Sarian’s 'View of Ararat from Yerevan' (1923) is a landscape that reflects his role as the founder of a modern Armenian national school of painting, heavily influenced by his travels to Armenia and the Middle East (Source 4). The work belongs to the landscape genre, which depicts natural scenery such as mountains and wide views arranged into a coherent composition, often including the sky and weather as compositional elements (Source 3). While the specific visual details of this 1923 painting are not explicitly described in the provided sources, Sarian’s general practice involved using oil paint to express the vitality of nature rather than merely producing a deceptive illusion (Source 5). His approach likely balances topographical accuracy with the emotional expression characteristic of his admiration for nature, rooted in his childhood experiences in rural settlements (Source 4).

estimated time

20-30 hours over 5-7 sessions

materials

6 items

steps

5 in sequence

materials

item	purpose	modern equivalent
Oil paints (pigment + drying oil)	Primary medium for the artwork	—
Linseed oil	General purpose drying oil for mixing paint; provides strong paint film	—
Safflower, walnut, or poppyseed oil	Mixing medium for lighter colors (like whites) to prevent yellowing, though they dry slower	—
Canvas or linen support	Surface for oil painting; linen comes from the flax plant, same as linseed oil	—
Siccative (e.g., litharge historically, or modern alternatives)	To accelerate drying time of the oil paint	Modern non-toxic siccatives
Varnish	Used in glazing and scumbling techniques to manipulate transparency and tone	—

preparation

surface prep

The support is likely linen or canvas, prepared with a ground suitable for oil painting. While specific priming methods for this 1923 work are not detailed in the sources, standard oil painting practice involves preparing the surface to accept the oil medium. Sarian’s work is noted for its vitality, suggesting a surface that allows for expressive brushwork rather than an overly smooth, deceptive finish (Source 5).

underdrawing

Contour drawing techniques may have been used to establish the mass and volume of the landscape elements, such as the mountain and city structures, focusing on outlined shapes rather than minor details (Source 7). However, specific evidence of Sarian’s underdrawing for this piece is not provided; thus, this is inferred from general landscape painting practices where contour helps convey three-dimensional perspective and distance (Source 7).

underpainting

A grisaille (monochrome underpainting) may have been employed, where red and yellow tones are mentally extracted to establish the underlying structure. This method allows for subsequent glazing and scumbling to add color, a technique practiced by old masters and referenced in oil painting traditions (Source 2). This approach helps in managing the complex color contrasts inherent in landscape painting (Source 6).

color palette

White

Lead white (historically) or Titanium Zinc (modern)

General use; historically valued for opacity and fast drying, but modern equivalents are preferred due to toxicity concerns (Source 1)

Ultramarine

Ultramarine pigment

Likely used for sky and distant mountain tones, consistent with traditional oil painting palettes (Source 2)

Black

Carbon black or Ivory black

Establishing shadows and contrast in the grisaille stage (Source 2)

Red and Yellow tones

Various red and yellow pigments

Glazing and scumbling over the monochrome underpainting to introduce warmth and local color (Source 2)

composition

The composition likely features a wide view of natural scenery, including Mount Ararat and the city of Yerevan, arranged coherently with the sky as a significant element (Source 3). As a topographical view, it may depict a specific place with buildings, though such views were sometimes considered inferior to fine art landscapes in historical contexts (Source 3). Sarian’s general compositional habits emphasize the emotional idea prompted by the scene, using painted symbols true to nature but not forgetting the medium’s vitality (Source 5).

step by step

underdrawing→underpainting→first pass→refining→finishing

underdrawing

step 01
Sketch the main contours of the landscape, focusing on the mass and volume of the mountain and city structures rather than fine details.
Tip — Use lighter lines for distant elements to suggest depth and darker lines for foreground objects (Source 7).
Contour drawing

underpainting

step 02
Apply a grisaille underpainting using black, ultramarine, and white to establish the tonal structure, mentally extracting red and yellow colors.
Tip — Ensure the underpainting is completely dry before proceeding to avoid muddying the colors (Source 2).
Grisaille

first pass

step 03
Begin glazing and scumbling with oil paint, introducing red and yellow tones over the monochrome base.
Tip — Glazing adds transparent color, while scumbling adds semi-opaque layers that allow the underpainting to show through, creating coldness or grey blooms if used over darker grounds (Source 2).
Glazing and Scumbling

refining

step 04
Adjust color contrasts and tones, ensuring that juxtaposed colors enhance each other through simultaneous contrast.
Tip — Be aware that placing two flat tints of different tones next to each other will enfeeble the higher tone and heighten the lower tone, creating a true gradation of light (Source 6).
Simultaneous Contrast

finishing

step 05
Finalize the painting by ensuring the emotional expression of the landscape is clear, avoiding a mere deceptive illusion of nature.
Tip — Remember that art is an expression of feeling associated with the material, not just a substitute for nature (Source 5).
Expressive Realism

critical techniques

Glazing and Scumbling

Used to add color and depth over a monochrome underpainting, allowing for subtle tonal variations and transparency effects.

Simultaneous Contrast

Applied to enhance the visual impact of juxtaposed colors, ensuring that the interaction between tones creates a harmonious and dynamic composition.

Contour Drawing

Used in the initial sketching phase to establish the form and volume of the landscape elements without getting bogged down in details.

common pitfalls

→Attempting to create a deceptive illusion of nature rather than expressing the emotional idea through the vitality of the medium (Source 5).
→Applying glazes or scumbles before the underpainting is completely dry, which can lead to muddied colors and poor adhesion (Source 2).
→Ignoring the effects of simultaneous contrast, which can result in flat or unharmonious color relationships (Source 6).
→Using linseed oil for white pigments, which may cause yellowing over time; lighter oils like safflower or poppyseed are preferred for whites (Source 1).

what the sources don't tell us

Where the corpus is silent, we say so rather than guess. These are the gaps a complete recreation guide would normally cover that our source passages don't.

·Specific visual details of the 1923 painting 'View of Ararat from Yerevan' are not described in the sources, so the guide relies on general landscape painting practices and Sarian’s broader artistic habits.
·The exact palette used by Sarian for this specific work is not documented in the provided sources; the palette list is inferred from general oil painting practices and historical context.
·Sarian’s specific preparatory methods for this painting (e.g., whether he used a grisaille) are not explicitly stated, so the guide suggests it as a likely technique based on traditional oil painting methods.

grounded in

The technical procedure in this guide traces to the following classical art-instruction texts.

The Practice of Oil Painting↗
- COLOURING A MONOCHROME — applied to Underpainting and glazing/scumbling techniques
The Practice and Science of Drawing↗
- XX MATERIALS — applied to Philosophy of using oil paint to express vitality rather than illusion
Laws of Contrast of Colour↗
- 6. Put beside each other two flat tints... — applied to Color contrast and refinement steps

cross-referenced from

Named facts about this artwork and artist were checked against these reference pages.

Wikipedia: Oil painting↗
- part 4 — applied to Materials list, specifically the use of drying oils and pigments
Wikipedia: Landscape painting↗
- part 1 — applied to Composition notes and genre definition
Wikipedia bio — Martiros Sarian↗
- part 1 — applied to Artist’s background and influence on the artwork
Wikipedia: Contour drawing↗
- part 1 — applied to Underdrawing technique

Read more about the corpus on the sources page and how the guides are built on the methods page.

read from the painting

observed from the image, not the label

6 dominant colors, measured

what the eye sees

Mount Ararat dominates the composition, its snow-capped twin peaks rising pale and luminous against a soft blue-grey sky, creating an immediate focal point in the upper two-thirds of the frame. A warm village of cream and rust-colored buildings sits in the middle distance, with a dark cypress tree punctuating the horizontal line of the settlement. The foreground is anchored by a strong, dark mass of green vegetation—hedges or low trees—rendered in deep forest tones that create a silhouette and push the village back in space. Light comes from the upper left, modeling the mountain's shadows in cool grey-blue and warming the sunlit building faces.

value structure

The painting operates on three clear value bands: a very dark green-near-black foreground (the vegetation), a light-to-medium middle section (the village and fields), and a pale light background (sky and snow). The mountain is the lightest shape overall, with the foreground providing the strongest dark anchor. Squint and you see: dark shape, light shape, light shape—a simple but stable structure that creates considerable spatial depth.

observed palette and mixes

#23251f
Ultramarine blue + burnt umber + touch of black (deep forest green)
Foreground vegetation, dense hedge shadows, darkest tree masses right side
#797e74
Yellow ochre + ultramarine blue + titanium white (grey-green)
Mid-ground fields and landscape, grassy areas between buildings
#bac0ad
Titanium white + yellow ochre + tiny touch of burnt umber (warm cream)
Sunlit faces of the cream-colored buildings, light-struck building walls
#d6dece
Titanium white + ultramarine blue (pale sky tone)
Sky, particularly the lighter upper portions and around the mountain
#3a3f35
Ultramarine blue + burnt umber + yellow ochre (deep cool green-grey)
Cypress tree, shadow sides of buildings, darkened vegetation in middle
#515342
Burnt umber + yellow ochre + white (warm brown-tan)
Rust and terracotta-colored roofs, warm shadow tones on buildings

edges and brushwork

The foreground vegetation is rendered with soft, painterly edges—observe how the hedge silhouette is rounded and organic rather than defined, with visible dabs and scrubbing strokes building texture. The buildings have crisper geometric edges where faces catch light, but their shadowed sides soften and blend into the landscape. The mountain and sky feature relatively smooth transitions, with directional strokes following the form of the peaks; the snow edges are soft where they meet the sky but remain clearly luminous.

a working sequence

01
Establish the composition with light charcoal or thin burnt umber
Lightly sketch the horizon line roughly one-third up from the bottom. Place the two-peaked mountain shape, marking the apex. Indicate the rough placement of the main building cluster (a small horizontal rectangle) just below center. Block in the vertical cypress accent slightly left of center. Mark the foreground as a band of darker tone at the bottom.
02
Paint the sky and establish the mountain form
Block in the pale blue-grey sky with broad strokes, working from left to right. Keep it lighter at the horizon. Add the snow-capped peaks with titanium white, leaving subtle grey-blue shadow shapes on the mountain's eastern faces. The peaks should read as clearly illuminated against the sky—this is your light key.
03
Block in the mid-ground landscape and village buildings
Paint the middle-distance fields and landscape in grey-green tones (yellow ochre + ultramarine blue + white), establishing the plane between the foreground and mountain. Block in the cream-colored building walls with warm tan (white + yellow ochre + minimal burnt umber). Paint the rust and terracotta roofs with warmer burnt umber + yellow ochre mixes. Keep these shapes simple and geometric at first.
04
Anchor the foreground vegetation with deep darks
Paint the foreground hedge and vegetation mass in deep forest green (ultramarine blue + burnt umber). Make this noticeably darker than everything else—it is the value foundation. Use varied greens rather than a single flat tone; add touches of grey-green into the darks. Work with soft, rounded brushwork; don't define individual shrubs crisply.
05
Place the cypress tree and refine building shadows
Paint the cypress as a vertical dark accent using deep cool green (ultramarine + burnt umber + yellow ochre). Keep it narrower and darker than the surrounding vegetation. Add subtle warm shadows (burnt umber + touch of ultramarine) to the shadowed sides of buildings and under the roofs, particularly the buildings on the right. These shadows should feel warm and earthy, not grey.
06
Develop texture and refine the foreground
Build depth in the foreground vegetation with varied brushwork—some soft dabs, some scrubbed horizontal strokes. Add lighter green accents (yellow ochre + blue + white) to suggest form within the dark mass, creating gentle undulation. Keep these accents subtle; the foreground should remain predominantly dark. Soften the edge where vegetation meets the middle-ground fields.
07
Refine edges and adjust value relationships
Soften the edges where the mountain meets the sky, ensuring the snow remains the lightest note. Crisp the sunlit edges of the buildings while keeping their shadow sides soft. Check that the dark foreground reads distinctly darker than the light middle ground—this is your spatial push. Make any final adjustments to the cypress tree so it feels integrated with the landscape rather than pasted on.
08
Final touches and unity check
Add subtle surface details: small window shapes on buildings, minor texture variations in the fields, soft modeling in the sky. Step back and ensure warm light feels consistent across the composition. The overall painting should read as a simple, harmonious landscape with clear spatial recession from dark foreground through warm village to luminous mountain and pale sky.

where studies of this painting go wrong

Making the foreground vegetation too light or too green—it must be a deep, near-black mass of green to read as foreground and create contrast with the illuminated village. Resist the urge to brighten it for 'realism.'
Losing the mountain's luminosity by making the sky too dark or the peaks insufficiently white—the snow must read as your brightest light, the visual anchor at the top. Maintain clear contrast between peak and sky.
Painting the cypress as pure black instead of a deep cool green—it will look pasted on and inorganic. Keep it darker than surroundings but still a green-based mix, so it belongs to the landscape.
Making the buildings appear flat by not differentiating shadow and light sides clearly—the warm, sunlit faces should be distinctly warmer and lighter than the cooler, shadowed walls. This creates three-dimensionality.
Tilting or softening the horizontal emphasis of the composition—the village, fields, and foreground vegetation all run roughly horizontal, echoing the mountain's silhouette. Respect these horizontal bands; they are the composition's spine.
Over-blending the sky and mountain together—the edge where they meet should remain crisp and luminous, even if soft. Avoid muddying this crucial junction.

measured difficulty