Fotoreproductie van een schilderij van een vrouw die gekapt wordt door Henry Mosler before 1884

This photogravure reproduces a painting by Henry Mosler, depicting a woman having her hair dressed. Note the intimate scene. Such a motif resonates with images of toilette throughout art history. Consider Botticelli’s Venus, emerging from the sea, attended by handmaidens preparing her for presentation. In both images, the act of grooming becomes a symbolic moment of transformation and display. The mirror reflects not just the physical image but also the societal gaze, shaping identity and self-perception. The gesture of tending to hair, laden with cultural significance, transcends time, reappearing in various forms and contexts. Hairdressing, seemingly mundane, becomes a ritual, laden with psychological weight. Such images tap into a collective memory, stirring subconscious associations with beauty, status, and the ephemeral nature of existence. This is the life of images: they carry emotional resonance, engaging us on a deep, almost primal level, as they resurface, evolve, and take on new meanings across centuries.