In the course of their age-long history the people of Armenia made superb contributions to all forms of visual arts. Before the foundation of the State Museum of Armenia (the Museum) in 1921, works of Armenian artists had been the property of private collectors and monasteries.

The Museum incorporated several departments, including the department of arts whose nucleus was formed by a limited number of canvases purchased from the exhibitions sponsored by the society of Armenian Artists in Erevani. In 1024 the Museum benefited considerably by the transfer to it of a modest but valuable collection from the former Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages in Moscow, the bulk of which consisted of portraits. Among these were works by such outstanding masters of Russian painting as D. Levitsky and V. Tropinin, as well as some sculptures by I. Martos and others. A truly significant acquisition was a collection of paintings and grofic works from the Matenadaran (a repository of books) in Echmiadzin. Subsequent additions came from the Hermitage, the Russian Museum and the State Museum Reserve. By 1935 the Department of Art had so substantially expanded that it was transformed into a separate museum of fine arts, known since 1947 as the Art Gallery of Armenia.

A large number of their own works were presented to the Gallery by Edgar Shain and Garzpu of France. The canvases of V. Sureniants and some nineteenth century Russian painters, notably Ivan Aivazovsky, came from Ja. Ekizlere, an engineer, while the paintings of N. Lancert, Th. Rousseau, N. Diaz de la Peňa, A. Monticelli, E. Boudin and L. Anquetin were donated by Zambakhchian, a Rumanian art historian. The portrait of V. Akimova, one of the finest works by V. Serov, was presented by V. Kananian, the mother of the artist’s model.

The collection of paintings is concentrated in the Departments of Armenian (Pic.1,2), Russian (Pic.3,4) and Western European Art (Pic 5,6).

Pic.1 HAKOP HOVNATANIAN                   Pic.2 VARDGHES  SUREIANTS

Portrait of Ananian                                       Women leaving the church at ani. 1905

Pic. 3 DMITRY LEVITSKY                          Pic. 4 KARL BRIULLOV

Portrait of an unknown woman. Detai.         Portrait of M. Bek. Detail   

Pic.5 JAN VAN GOYEN                            Pic. 6 DAVID TENIERS THE YOUNGER

A view of Dordrecht. Detail.                        A game of Bowling. Detail.