"In Hagopyan's works we see the suffering and the wisdom of Armenia", quite justly wrote a visitor to a Moscow exhibition of the artist's works. Born in Egypt and educated at the Armenian Melkonyan School on Cyprus and at the Académie de la Grande Chaumiére, Hagopyan first set foot on his native land at 40 years of age. The artist's talent overcame psychological barriers and soon put down roots in his new surroundings. In Armenia Hagopyan discovered something new, he found his own Armenia, and we are now used to looking at our surroundings with his eyes.]

    What lies behind his innovation? The art of Hagopyan is dramatic, with an all-encompassing disquiet born of the nature of contemporary life. There is a key to the deep underlayers of his conceptions, for if we study Hagopyan's landscapes attentively we see that the clouds, trees, vines or whistish stones on the banks of Lake Sevan are not merely clouds, trees or stones but are personifications, the bearers of various emotions: fear, sorrow, loneliness, suffering...

    Faithful to his national character, the artist was ever restrained. His pictures are based on a sound linear construction and the picture surface is bound of silent, imperceptible brushstrokes and a harmony of the finest shades of colour. Hagopyan fills his works with his most cherished hope - to see a world peaceful and untroubled.