Why it matters
Las Meninas is one of the most analysed paintings in Western art, because its composition blurs the line between reality and illusion. The young Infanta Margaret Theresa stands among her attendants while Velázquez paints at a huge canvas, and a mirror at the back reflects the king and queen: standing, it seems, exactly where we are.
Did you know?
- The Italian painter Luca Giordano called it the 'theology of painting'.
- The Infanta was five years old; around her are maids of honour, a chaperone, a bodyguard, two dwarfs and a dog.
- Michel Foucault opened his book The Order of Things (1966) with an analysis of it.
Based on the Wikipedia article Las Meninas (CC BY-SA 4.0).
