The Gallery’s fullest and most comprehensive department is that of Armenian painting. The exhibition of the department opens with copies of sixth century frescoes and embraces all the characteristic trends of the development of Armenian visual arts from the dawn of history to the present day.

In addition to icons , there is a limited number of seventeenth and eighteenth century portraits in which the artists, following the precepts of medieval art, attempted to reproduce in the most painstaking manner the outward features of a concrete personality.

The nineteenth century, which opened up a new chapter in the history of Armenian visual arts, saw the flourishing of the genre of portraiture. The second and the third quarters of the nineteenth century are associated with the name of the prominent painter H. Hovnatanian. In the gallery of portraits produced Hovnatanian, the tender and lyrical female figures are especially attractive. Such are, for instance, his portraits of N. Orbelian, Sh. Nadirian, N. Teumian and Ananian, all notable for their refinement and charm.

S. Nersesian, a contemporary of H. Hovnatanian, is one of the first Armenian graduates of the St. Petersburg Academy of Art. He is the author of th only and most important extant genre painting in the Armenian art of modern times, Picnic on the Bank of the Kura.

The realistic traditions of portrait painting were further developed in the art of E. Nazarian and S. Agajanian. The deeply psychological canvases of Agajanian, such as a portrait of V. Gasparian, are characterized by thorough modelling of volumes.

Zakhar Zacharian is one of the pioneers of the still life painting of the new times.

An honorable place in the Gallery’s exhibition is occupied by the pictures of the artists A. Kalents and P. Konturajian. Kalents’ landscapes and still lifes are imbued with light and seem to be shot by the sun; they are filled with music and harmony.

HAKOP HOVNATATIAN                             STEPHAN AGAJANIAN

Portrait of Natalia Teumian                          Portrait of S. Ekmekcheva, 1908

  STEPANOS NERESIAN

Picnic on the Bank of Kura, 1860s

EGISHE TATEVOSIAN                                EGISHE TATEVOSIAN

Our Street in Vagarshapat, 1921                 Komotas, 1935   

HAKOP KOJOIAN                                      MARTIROS SARYAN

A Street in Tabriz                                         A Spring Day, 1929