Girl with the Hoop

The painting portrays a young Soviet gymnast as an emblem of discipline and grace. In the Soviet imagination, gymnastics symbolized not only athletic mastery but also the ideal of collective poise - the harmony between body, will and nation.

With a restrained palette and finely balanced composition, Mirzoyan captures the introspective and calm before movement: a moment of tension and dignity shaped by repetition and endurance.

The work refelcts both the aesthetic rigor of Socialist Realism and a timeless meditation on inner strength, a quiet power that transcendends ideology.

Artur Mirzoyan,

Girl with the Hoop, 2024,

oil on canvas
80 X 60 CM

The Painting Putin Asked For

In the Moscow studio of Artur Mirzoyan, hidden inside the historic Anna Mons House, there hung a painting that quietly transcended time. A girl, a hoop, a fleeting moment between discipline and grace. Girl with the Hoop, oil on canvas, 2024.

I first saw it on a winter afternoon. The light filtered softly through the frosted windows as Mirzoyan spoke in a calm, reflective tone about motion, memory, and the pride of Soviet youth. I knew at once: this work would find its way to me.

Weeks later, back in Germany, I received a message from Moscow. The painting, my friend Tatiana and a member of Artur’s team, told me, had caught the Kremlin's eye.

“The person number one stopped, looked, and smiled,” said Tatiana - and I understood that beauty sometimes reaches where power resides. Mirzoyan had shown a small selection of his works at the Kremlin, following his exhibition at the Tretyakov Gallery. An aide later inquired whether the painting might be for sale. But the artist kept his word: it was reserved. For me. Months later, the piece travelled passed through Russian Embassies from India to Italy and arrived in Germany.

Today, it resides within the Landois Collection, a silent witness to the
encounter of art, power, and destiny. Sometimes, a single smile can change the course of things.