Martiros Saryan was born in 1888. He attended Moscow School of Arts and had Valentin Serov as his teacher. Saryan was a great lover of Armenia and of its people. In Echmiadzin he fervently helped Armenians who had survived the Genocide, organized a Society of Armenian Artists in Tbilisi, he designed the coat of arms for Armenian SSR, the curtain for the first Armenian state theatre. Apart and above all he was the first director of the National Art Gallery.

This extremely busy man taught millions of people the right colors of Armenia and died in 1972 inheriting a large collection of paintings. His home in Yerevan is now converted into a museum and is currently directed by his granddaughter. The house is now preserved exactly as it was during Saryan's live years. Visitors can see his studio with numerous paintings hanging from walls, his brushes, his desk, many other personal items, unfinished sketches and hear the story of this person.