Surenyants’ masterpiece ‘The Abandoned’ to be displayed in Armenia for first time in 130 years

More than 130 years after it was created, Vardges Surenyants’ masterpiece The Abandoned will be displayed in Armenia for the first time, marking a major event in the history of Armenian art.

The international exhibition “The Face of Humanity: Surenyants’ ‘The Abandoned’ and Humanist Art” will open at the National Gallery of Armenia on September 16. 

Brought to Armenia on an exceptional loan from the Abilkhan Kasteyev State Museum of Arts in Kazakhstan, The Abandoned (1894) will be the centerpiece of the exhibition. For the first time, three key monumental works from Surenyants’ artistic legacy will also be brought together in a single exhibition space as a unified triptych: The Abandoned (1894), Trampled Sanctity (1895), and After the Massacre (1898).

The exhibition will also feature works by Panos Terlemezian, Sargis Khachaturian, Zhirayr Oragian, Mariam Aslamazian, Armine Kalents, and other artists, tracing the broader development of humanist thought in Armenian art.

Two works from the collection of the History Museum of Armenia will also be displayed, along with the historic door of the Church of the Holy Apostles depicted in Surenyants’ The Abandoned.

The exhibition will run through March 16, 2027.