Portrait of a Young Girl 

Alexei Harlamoff painted this portrait of a young girl, capturing her youthful innocence with oil on canvas. Notice how the artist has arranged the girl’s hair. Bound at the top of her head, loose strands fall around her face, framing it with a halo of soft curls. This deliberate styling echoes the iconography of classical figures, such as depictions of Psyche, the goddess of the soul. In ancient art, Psyche is often shown with similar hairstyles, symbolizing her purity and vulnerability. This motif transcends time, reappearing throughout art history to evoke themes of beauty, innocence, and the passage of time. Harlamoff, consciously or subconsciously, taps into this rich visual vocabulary, inviting viewers to engage with the subject on a deep, emotional level. This echoes the cyclical nature of cultural memory: Symbols resurface and evolve, enriched with new meanings across generations.