Saryan was one of the plead of major cultural figures of Armenia at the turn of the century. His work, in common with the library contributions of O. Tumanian and A. Isaakian, those of T. Toramanian and A. Tamanian in architecture, and of Komitas in national music, set the standard of national art, and laid the foundations for its flowering in the Soviet period.A new stage in Saryan's work began in 1909. There is no longer anything fantastic in the subjects of such paintings as "Self-portrait" (two versions), "In the Grove at Sambek", "Morning at Stavrino", "Hyenas", or "Burning Heat with a Dog Running". In "Morning at Stavrino", an actual place is depicted, the yard of his father's farm, yet the canvas breathes the mystery of awakening nature. Among his celebrated pictures belonging to the beginning of the 1910s are "A Street at Noon: Constantinople, Dogs of Constantinople, Date-palm in Egypt, Night Landscape, Still-life with Grapes, Flowers of Kalaki, Still-life with Masks, Flowers of the East". Each of these works, with its brilliant, joyous colors, overcomes the viewer with a sensation of the joy of life.
Landscape always remained a leading aspect of Saryan's art. But beginning with the 1920s landscape became more synthetic monumental in character. The artist creates a generalized image of Armenia. In the paintings "Armenia", "Mountains", "Midday Stillness", "Erevan", "Mount Aragats", an effect of spatial depth is achieved through a balanced arrangement of saturated color patches. The absolute harmony of color and light arouses in the viewer a restful feeling, a deep sense of peace.
The artist brings to each of his works the most delicate shades of a mood, an intimate, lyrical mood in most cases. He composes cycles in which the meaning of the present and the eternal is philosophically explored. One such series consisting of seven landscapes, "My Homeland".
