New canvas by Vardges Surenyants discovered

On the occasion of the 150th birthday of renowned artist Vardges Surenyants a symposium dedicated to the great artist was organized and a film featuring his artistic life was shot. In addition, a commemorative coin was released, and one of his canvases unknown so far to art lovers was discovered.

In an interview with Capital daily, Armen Gasparyan, Chief of Armenian Painting Department at the National Art Gallery, spoke about the recently organized exhibition of Surenyants' paintings.

"Mr Gasparyan, what makes this exhibition unique?"

"This is the first exhibition featuring Surenyants' entire cultural heritage, which comprises canvases, graphic paintings and book illustrations. In addition to the National Art Gallery collection, there are also paintings brought from the Holly See of St Echmiatsin. The entire collection comprises 250 works including one canvas which was unknown the public so far."

"What canvas is that and has it been proved to be authentic?"

"That's an invention, a still life painting created in 1912. Surenyants' pieces are mainly kept in the National Art Gallery where we have only one graphic painting. The canvas – a high quality oil painting - was found in a private collection in Yerevan. That's a novelty as Surenyants' life paintings appeared to be the only genre of his cultural heritage not disclosed to the public. The color scheme and the volumetrical design of the canvas come to prove that it is really his style. This canvas allows us to consider Surenyants one of the best authors of still life."

The exhibition will be open for three months.