Las Meninas, Velázquez
- Oil on linen canvas
- 100% hand-painted
- Painting reproduction
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| Author: | Diego Velázquez |
|---|---|
| Original Title: | Las Meninas |
| Type: | Painting |
| Style: | Baroque |
| Medium | Oil |
| Support: | Canvas |
| Year: | 1656 |
| Genre: | Period scene |
| Located: | Prado National Museum, Madrid. |
The central character and protagonist in this stunning life-size portrait is the Infanta Margaret Theresa of Spain (17th century).
This is one of the most studied works in history, with the main source of information today coming from the writings of the treatise writer and painter Antonio Palomino.
This work transcends the boundaries of portraiture and painting, inviting us into a room where the lines between observer and observed blur. The characters, including the kings, reflected in a mirror, seem to interact with us, placing us within the scene. Diego Velázquez portrays himself as part of the court, defending painting as a noble profession. "Las Meninas" captures a moment of courtly life as if in a photographic image, centuries ahead of its peers. Three years later, he would paint a personal portrait of the infanta.
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Why is this painting famous?
The fame of Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez rests on the Prado’s “magnet effect” and its academic weight: it has been analyzed to exhaustion (from Foucault to school textbooks), reinterpreted by Picasso, and cited in debates on gaze, power, and self-representation. It is the quintessential "intellectual" work appearing in courses, documentaries, and exhibitions, and its compositional mystery makes it an obligatory reference in any ranking of celebrated works.Discover more famous paintings