New period of the creative work (1914 -1920)

Saryan was extremely demanding on himself and he would always feel real art. 'I was afraid my success will result in appearance of cliches in my art .I did not want to become a fashionable artist,' he confessed. 'I felt an urgent need to renew my art'. (“About Saryan“, p.465). The artist intended to resume his trips to the East. He dreamed of visiting China, Japan, and India but his plans were frustrated by World War I.
In the spring of 1914, Saryan left for Tbilisi, Georgia. He participated in the activities of the Armenian ethnographic community and visited Gokhtn (Southern Armenia, presently in Azerbaijan). 'I was happy …I was face to face with the nature that was so dear to me like a mother and greatest teacher', writes the artist (“About Saryan“, p.465). Saryan displayed his new paintings - landscapes and flowers from the Kalaki fields, at the World of Art exhibition in Moscow. Then he took part in a Baltic exhibition in Malmo, (Sweden). One of his paintings, "The Tree" (1910), remained later in the Art museum of Malmo.
However, the further development of Saryan's art was interrupted by the tragic events taking place in Armenia. 'But in 1915 I learned about the disaster that Armenia was experiencing. I closed my studio and left for my home country. In Echmiadzin and in its suburbs I witnessed crowds of people fleeing from the Genocide in Turkish Armenia … People were dying right in front of me but I was almost unable to help them… I was deeply depressed and was taken to Tiflis with an obvious emotional disorder', Saryan recalls (“About Saryan“, p.465-466).
The artist could not work for a long time. But the first thing he created after this trial was the picture with a big bouquet of red flowers. The way to salvation was found: 'The art has to call a person for life and struggle, inspire him with hope and faith by timeless and common to all mankind ideas. It should never depress with its tragic subjects'. (“Saryan about Art”, p. 59).
Another event that brought Saryan back to creative life was the meeting with the beautiful black-eyed Lusik Aghayan, daughter of the famous Armenian writer and pedagogue Ghasaros Aghayan. 'This was an encounter of two persons who seemed to have known each other before but were temporarily separated', the artist recalled (“About Saryan“, p.466).
At the end of 1915, Saryan once again participates in the World of Art exhibition. In 1916 in Tiflis, Saryan established The Fellowship of Armenian Artists with the partisipation of the Armenian painters E. Tatevosyan, V. Surenyants, and P. Terlemezyan and created the sketch of its emblem. 'The nation that hardly survived from extermination strove to heal its deep wounds by uniting its progressive cultural power', Saryan wrote. (“Martiros Saryan. From My Life”, p. 198).
A new period had started in Saryan's personal and creative life. 'In those days of sufferings I became related to my nation with all my heart. I would not have become an artist nor been myself if not the feeling of a homeland. I dedicated all my subsequent creative life to it'. (“Martiros Saryan. From My Life”, p.200).
Martiros Saryan and Lusik Aghayan got engaged in the Tskhneti village church on April 17 of 1917.
At the end of 1917 the artist took part for the last time in the World of Art exhibition in Moscow. The 'Poetry of Armenia' anthology designed by Saryan and edited by Russian poet Valery Brusov was published. Afterwards, Saryan and his wife moved to Nakhichevan where they lived in his mother's house. The painter made frequent trips to Tiflis and was there at the time of the October Revolution.
In the same year, their son, Sarkis, was born. He later became a literature critic and specialist in Italian and Armenian literature.
In 1918 -1919, Saryan lived with his family in Novaya Nakhichevan, which then became a region of Rostov-on-Don. He initiated the establishment of an Armenian Local Lore museum. At the Lotus exhibition, where Armenian and Russian painters were exhibited, Saryan displayed 45 paintings. Aside from his earlier paintings, his latest paintings were also exhibited and revealed the oriental theme in a new way: ‘Portrait of N. Komurjyan’, ‘Old Tiflis’, and ‘Red Horse’.
The artist also designed G.Chalkhushyan's Red Book, dedicated to Armenian Genocide, and M. Shahinyan's collection of poems Orientalia.
Saryan's second son, Ghazaros (Lazar), was born in 1920. Later he became a famous composer.