Las Meninas
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About Las Meninas
Someone important has entered the room—and everyone seems to have noticed.
The young Infanta Margarita stands near the center with her attendants. A dog lies at the front. A man pauses in a bright doorway. On the left, Velázquez has painted himself behind a canvas so large that we cannot see what is on it.
Several faces turn outward. They are looking toward a place beyond the painting—the same place where we are standing. On the back wall, a small mirror holds another clue: the reflected faces of King Philip IV and Queen Mariana.
Are the king and queen standing beside us? Are they posing for Velázquez? What is hidden on the front of his canvas? The painting has kept experts debating because every clue opens another possibility.
Las Meninas does not let us remain a quiet visitor outside the frame. It gives us a position inside the puzzle. The missing person in this royal room might be the viewer.
Artwork details
- Artist
- Diego Velázquez
- Date
- 1656
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 320.3 × 279.1 cm
- Collection
- Museo Nacional del Prado
- Accession number
- P001174
Sources & rights
Diego Velázquez, Las Meninas, 1656. Museo Nacional del Prado, P001174. Image via Wikimedia Commons (Prado in Google Earth), Public Domain.
