ESCS Minister Zhanna Andreasyan participated in the opening of the international conference “Impressionisms: Stories from the Margins” and the symbolic exhibition “Hovhannes Alkhazyan: From Van to Paris".

The scientific conference is being held on October 28-29 at the National Gallery of Armenia as part of the “Impressionisms Routes” program.

ESCS Minister Zhanna Andreasyan, Ambassador of the Republic of France to the Republic of Armenia Olivier Decottignies, Director of the National Gallery of Armenia Marina Hakobyan, President of the “Impressionisms Routes” organization and Vice President of the “EUROART” organization Pierre Bedouelle, delivered welcoming remarks at the opening of the conference. ESCS Deputy Minister Alfred Kocharyan also participated in the event.

Minister Zhanna Andreasyan welcomed the participants, highlighting the significance of holding the international conference “Impressionisms: Stories from the Margins” and emphasizing the successful collaboration as part of the “Cultural Routes” program.

“The conference will conclude this phase of international cooperation, reinforcing Armenia's role in European cultural dialogue, paving the way for further initiatives in the field of art history and museology. I am glad that the long-standing cooperation is flourishing: the strong relations that have been established are constantly enriching agendas, which enable us to raise new issues related to the expansion of cultural cooperation, to launch new initiatives, from which art and culture primarily benefit. Conferences like this also provide an opportunity to explore new layers in the development of artistic thought,” she said.

Zhanna Andreasyan highlighted that within the framework of membership in the “Cultural Routes” program and the “Impressionisms Routes” network, which is a component of it, Armenia is actively participating and has already joined six routes. As she informed, next year Armenia will host the upcoming workshop of the “Cultural Routes” program.

“I hope that important issues will be addressed with many partners in Yerevan, which, first and foremost, reveal the ties that bring us closer together, one of the most important features of culture. In general, culture reminds us that we all dream of the same things, share the same values, and pursue the same goals, so it is essential to conduct dialogue within the field of culture, since sometimes culture is the only possible language to see commonalities. I would like to particularly highlight the significance of this initiative in the context of Armenia-France cultural cooperation. This year, the National Gallery of Armenia presented its Impressionist collection in Barbizon,” the Minister noted, emphasizing that internationalization is one of the key directions for the advancement of the museum sector, which is enshrined in the Strategy for Cultural Development.

The international conference “Impressionisms: Stories from the Margins” brings together around 20 leading specialists from museums and research institutions in Armenia, France, Russia, and Georgia, fostering a favourable environment for scientific exchange and collaboration.

The National Gallery of Armenia has been a member of the “Impressionisms Routes” network, a component of the Council of Europe's “Cultural Routes” program since 2022, within the framework of which the large-scale exhibition “Colors and Lights of Armenian Impressionism” opened in Barbizon in 2025. As part of the collaboration, for the first time in France, over 70 major works from the collection of the National Gallery of Armenia by Vardges Surenyants, Yeghisheh Tadevosyan, Vahram Gayfejyan, Sedrak Arakelyan, Karapet (Charles) Adamyan, Martiros Saryan, and other renowned artists who created in the first three decades of the 20th century, were presented on the same platform.

The launch of the conference was preceded by the opening of the symbolic exhibition “Hovhannes Alkhazyan: From Van to Paris.” Minister Zhanna Andreasyan and Deputy Minister Alfred Kocharyan, accompanied by the Director of the National Gallery of Armenia Marina Hakobyan, toured the exhibition hall and got acquainted with the exhibition, which presents the creative path of Hovhannes Alkhazyan, from his homeland to the world art center of Paris.

Hovhannes (Jean) Alkhazyan (1881–1958) was a prominent representative of Armenian fine arts in the first half of the 20th century, whose artistic vision was shaped within the French cultural environment. The exhibition “Hovhannes Alkhazyan: From Van to Paris” highlights two key phases of the artist’s career: Tbilisi and Paris. It features around 120 paintings and graphic works exclusively from the collections of the National Gallery of Armenia, offering a comprehensive view of the artist’s creative legacy. The curator of the exhibition is Margarita Khachatryan. Hovhannes Alkhazyan’s works were acquired or transferred to the National Gallery of Armenia in various years, a significant part of which in 1959 and 1962, forming one of the richest collections of Diaspora Armenian artists at the National Gallery of Armenia, which includes over 260 works by Alkhazyan.