En 1953 Pablo Picasso, por mediación de Juan Temboury, se planteó donar obras para un museo en Málaga, su ciudad natal, iniciativa que quedó frustrada tras recibir la negativa por parte de las autoridades malacitanas de la época a aceptar dicha donación. According to the critic Sira Dambe, "aspects of representation and power are addressed in this painting in ways closely connected with their treatment in Las Meninas". Your email address will not be published. Both stories involve Minerva, the goddess of wisdom and patron of the arts. II, p. 306, Records of 1735 show that the original frame was lost during the painting's rescue from the fire. Dambe, Sira. [75], Velázquez's portraits of the royal family themselves had until then been straightforward, if often unflatteringly direct and highly complex in expression. Boyutu : 1,94 m x 2,60 m. Dünyanın en ünlü sanatçısı İspanyol ressamdan Pablo Blasco olarak bahsetsek, yine de bu ünvana yaraşır, havalı bir isim olur muydu sizce? Felipe IV and his wife Mariana of Austria: The King and Queen appear reflected in a mirror at the back of the room. This is the only element of the painting in which she isn’t identified and of whom the only thing which is known is that she exercised as a guardadamas (a sort of lady protector) which according to the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language was «an employee of the royal household, whose main task was to go on horseback by the running board of the coach of the ladies so that nobody would be able to talk to them, and afterwards her role was limited to clearing the queen’s room in the public functions». López-Rey states that the truncation is more notable on the right. 5 [28] Alternatively, art historians H. W. Janson and Joel Snyder suggest that the image of the king and queen is a reflection from Velázquez's canvas, the front of which is obscured from the viewer. Philip had his own chair in the studio and would often sit and watch Velázquez at work. Many aspects of Las Meninas relate to earlier works by Velázquez in which he plays with conventions of representation. Picasso takes on the ambiguity of the gesture, and turns him into a shadow which is present in the majority of the works. The maid to the left faces the light, her brightly lit profile and sleeve creating a diagonal. The viewer cannot distinguish the features of the king and queen, but in the opalescent sheen of the mirror's surface, the glowing ovals are plainly turned directly to the viewer. In the Picassian approach, the magnificent animal presented by Velázquez is substituted by Lump (or Lumpito, as Picasso called him), the dachshund that the photographer David Duncan Douglas gave him as a present. According to Janson, not only is the gathering of figures in the foreground for Philip and Mariana's benefit, but the painter's attention is concentrated on the couple, as he appears to be working on their portrait. [23], Las Meninas is set in Velázquez's studio in Philip IV's Alcázar palace in Madrid. Giordano described the work as the "theology of painting", and was inspired to paint A Homage to Velázquez (National Gallery, London). There is a similar connection between the female dwarf and the figure of Velázquez himself, both of whom look towards the viewer from similar angles, creating a visual tension. Palomino, Antonio. [3][13] Examination under infrared light reveals minor pentimenti, that is, there are traces of earlier working that the artist himself later altered. The painting is likely to have been influenced by Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait, of 1434. Marcela de Ulloa: She was the person charged with watching over and taking care of the maidens from around the Princess Margarita. Pablo Picasso, Harlequin, 1917, oil on canvas; photo courtesy of Museu Picasso. [16] It was last cleaned in 1984 under the supervision of the American conservator John Brealey, to remove a "yellow veil" of dust that had gathered since the previous restoration in the 19th century. Las Meninas (infanta Margarida Maria).Cannes, 20th August, 1957. Furthermore, this was a way to prove himself worthy of acceptance by the royal family.[64]. [61] The relationship between illusion and reality were central concerns in Spanish culture during the 17th century, figuring largely in Don Quixote, the best-known work of Spanish Baroque literature. Vaig tenir el privilegi. Pencil lines outlining the Infanta's face, eyes, and hair are also visible. The mirror on the back wall indicates what is not there: the king and queen, and in the words of Harriet Stone, "the generations of spectators who assume the couple's place before the painting". Donació Ruiz Picasso, Pablo, 1968. In the presence of Velázquez, a mirror image is a poor imitation of the real. The preparatory sketch for Las Meninas with the date 16th of August, 1957 scrawled at the top. MPB 70.434 | Pablo Picasso.Las Meninas (María Agustina Sarmiento) At the time, van Eyck's painting hung in Philip's palace, and would have been familiar to Velázquez. [26] The art historian Svetlana Alpers suggests that, by portraying the artist at work in the company of royalty and nobility, Velázquez was claiming high status for both the artist and his art,[63] and in particular to propose that painting is a liberal rather than a mechanical art. [25] In the centre of the foreground stands the Infanta Margaret Theresa (1). Instead he analyzes its conscious artifice, highlighting the complex network of visual relationships between painter, subject-model, and viewer: We are looking at a picture in which the painter is in turn looking out at us. Before the end of the eighteenth century, man did not exist—any more than the potency of life, the fecundity of labour, or the historical density of language. [27] Behind them stands doña Marcela de Ulloa (6), the princess's chaperone, dressed in mourning and talking to an unidentified bodyguard (or guardadamas) (7). Additional Links. 318 × 276 cm. Miller (1998), p. 162. Picasso visto por Otero 20 Jun. [34][35] Other writers say the canvas Velázquez is painting is unusually large for a portrait by Velázquez, and is about the same size as Las Meninas. The post brought him status and material reward, but its duties made heavy demands on his time. Recreó la obra en una serie de 58 cuadros. [42] Velázquez presents nine figures—eleven if the king and queen's reflected images are included—yet they occupy only the lower half of the canvas.[43]. Picasso Las Meninas de Dalí Engaged from a very early age to her uncle, the emperor Leopold I of the Holy Roman Empire, these portraits served to inform about the aspect and growth of the princess. Consultado el 24-3-2011. This appearance of a total face, full-on to the viewer, draws the attention, and its importance is marked, tonally, by the contrasting frame of dark hair, the light on the hand and brush, and the skilfully placed triangle of light on the artist's sleeve, pointing directly to the face. For example, at first Velázquez's own head inclined to his right rather than his left. What is life? Picasso absorbió las corrientes vanguardistas de fines del siglo XIX en Barcelona y la estética Parisina en sus viajes a la capital francesa. Bermúdez's writings on the painting were published posthumously in 1885. She bends down, offering a little jug to the princess, in a typical gesture of the palace. [89], In 2010 and 2011 Felix de la Concha created Las Meninas Under An Artificial Light. Leo Steinberg argues that the orthogonals in the work are intentionally disguised so that the picture's focal center shifts. You can see a comparison of the characters of the two works in the highlights of the collection. MPB 113.292 Recently there have been suggestions that it might be by Velázquez after all (see below). [24] The high-ceilinged room is presented, in the words of Silvio Gaggi, as "a simple box that could be divided into a perspective grid with a single vanishing point". Oil on canvas. MPB 70.433. The back wall of the room, which is in shadow, is hung with rows of paintings, including one of a series of scenes from Ovid's Metamorphoses by Peter Paul Rubens, and copies, by Velázquez's son-in-law and principal assistant Juan del Mazo, of works by Jacob Jordaens. Nicolasito Pertusato: An Italian dwarf of noble origin who was possibly affected by a lack of growth hormones, which would have given him his characteristic childish aspect. [14], The painting has been cut down on both the left and right sides. María Agustina Sarmiento de Sotomayor: She is one of the two meninas properly speaking that there are in the work, that is to say, and according to the Royal Spanish Academy: «Lady from a noble family who since she was very young entered to serve the queen or the young princesses.». Not so long ago we published a chronology of Las Meninas of Picasso, on the occasion of the anniversary of the beginning of the series of paintings that Picasso did, based around this work of Velázquez. display: none !important; [54], In Las Meninas, the king and queen are supposedly "outside" the painting, yet their reflection in the back wall mirror also places them "inside" the pictorial space. And yet this slender line of reciprocal visibility embraces a whole complex network of uncertainties, exchanges, and feints. [39] Leo Steinberg suggests that the King and Queen are to the left of the viewer and the reflection in the mirror is that of the canvas, a portrait of the king and queen. These two legends are both stories of mortals challenging gods and the dreadful consequences. .hide-if-no-js { Pablo Picasso – Las Meninas. [38]. Velázquez uses this light not only to add volume and definition to each form but also to define the focal points of the painting. Giordano described the work as the "theology of painting",[43] and was inspired to paint A Homage to Velázquez (National Gallery, London). In the presence of his divinely ordained monarchs ... Velázquez exults in his artistry and counsels Philip and Maria not to look for the revelation of their image in the natural reflection of a looking glass but rather in the penetrating vision of their master painter. Both this backlight and the open doorway reveal space behind: in the words of the art historian Analisa Leppanen, they lure "our eyes inescapably into the depths". [51], According to Kahr, the composition could have been influenced by the traditional Dutch Gallery Pictures such as those by Frans Francken the Younger, Willem van Haecht, or David Teniers the Younger. A new appreciation for Velázquez's less Italianate paintings developed after 1819, when Ferdinand VII opened the royal collection to the public. With his characteristic sense of humour, Picasso resumes with this character and in the most divergent work of the series, The Piano, seats him on a piano which comes from the painter’s environment, from his home La Californie. This is also a feature of Los Borrachos of 1629, where contemporary peasants consort with the god Bacchus and his companions, who have the conventional undress of mythology. In just five months of intense work, between 17th August and 30th December 1957, Picasso carried out an exhaustive analysis, reinterpretation and recreation of Las Meninas by Velázquez. Saludos, https://medium.com/@annita_rosas/de-meninas-y-mentiras-en-el-mediterr%C3%A1neo-8ce16ed1e3c0#.rmdknull8, Your email address will not be published. He notes that "in addition to the represented mirror, he teasingly implies an unrepresented one, without which it is difficult to imagine how he could have shown himself painting the picture we now see".[60]. An almost immediate influence can be seen in the two portraits by Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo of subjects depicted in Las Meninas, which in some ways reverse the motif of that painting. The appraisal of 1747–48 makes reference to the painting having been "lately restored". ME PARECIO INTERESANTISIMA LA VISITA AL MUSEO, PERO ENCONTRE A FALTAR LA REFENCIA DEL CUADRO DE VELAZQUEZ, PARA PODER COMPARAR Y RELACIONAR LA INTERPRETACION DEL DE PICASSO. The painting entered the collection of the Museo del Prado on its foundation in 1819. [c] She is attended by two ladies-in-waiting, or meninas: doña Isabel de Velasco (2), who is poised to curtsy to the princess, and doña María Agustina Sarmiento de Sotomayor (3), who kneels before Margaret Theresa, offering her a drink from a red cup, or búcaro, that she holds on a golden tray. High quality Las Meninas gifts and merchandise. Picasso le quiso hacer un homenaje donando, tres meses después de su muerte, la serie completa de Las Meninas al Museo Picasso de Barcelona, junto con el Retrato azul de Jaime Sabartés y la promesa de enviar una copia de cada grabado que hiciera desde entonces, dedicándolo a su amigo, como ya venía haciendo desde hacía años. In the footnotes of Joel Snyder's article, the author recognizes that Nieto is the queen's attendant and was required to be at hand to open and close doors for her. "Reflexions on. [65][66], For Foucault, Las Meninas illustrates the first signs of a new episteme, or way of thinking. The greatest good is small; all life, it seems Las Meninas de Velázquez es única, en el sentido de que tan solo es una obra. [79] Mazo's painting of The Family of the Artist also shows a composition similar to that of Las Meninas. 2021 Fotografías del Fondo Roberto Otero, junto con una selección de libros ilustrados por Pablo Picasso, pertenecientes a la Colección del Museo Picasso … Entre las zonas más interesantes del edificio destacan el Salón Oval, el Salón del Trono y la impresionante cúpula principal. The pictorial space in the midground and foreground is lit from two sources: by thin shafts of light from the open door, and by broad streams coming through the window to the right. Based around this reading of the character, sometimes it has been proposed that this was the reason why Picasso, loyal to his firm anticlericalism, represents her and her interlocutor in an almost humoristic way. "[33], In 1692, the Neapolitan painter Luca Giordano became one of the few allowed to view paintings held in Philip IV's private apartments, and was greatly impressed by Las Meninas. [50] Stone writes: We cannot take in all the figures of the painting in one glance. The angle of the mirror is such that although "often described as looking at herself, [she] is more disconcertingly looking at us". The vanishing point of the perspective is in the doorway, as can be shown by extending the line of the meeting of wall and ceiling on the right. The positioning of these figures sets up a pattern, one man, a couple, one man, a couple, and while the outer figures are nearer the viewer than the others, they all occupy the same horizontal band on the picture's surface. Las Meninas under an artificial light has been on public display since 2018 at the NH Hotel in Zamora, Spain. Gif of Catherine Hutin, 2009. In 1692, the Neapolitan painter Luca Giordano became one of the few allowed to view paintings held in Philip IV's private apartments, and was greatly impressed by Las Meninas. He placed his only confirmed self-portrait in a room in the royal palace surrounded by an assembly of royalty, courtiers, and fine objects that represent his life at court. Richard Biker Sawbridge 1684. [16] After its rescue from the fire, the painting was inventoried as part of the royal collection in 1747–48, and the Infanta was misidentified as Maria Theresa, Margaret Theresa's older half-sister, an error that was repeated when the painting was inventoried at the new Madrid Royal Palace in 1772. He was the king’s valet and it is known that he lived until he was seventy-five years old. Similarly, the light glances obliquely on the cheek of the lady-in-waiting near her, but not on her facial features. The light models the volumetric geometry of her form, defining the conic nature of a small torso bound rigidly into a corset and stiffened bodice, and the panniered skirt extending around her like an oval candy-box, casting its own deep shadow which, by its sharp contrast with the bright brocade, both emphasises and locates the small figure as the main point of attention. In addition there is a collection of ceramics, etchings, lithographs and linocuts donated by his widow Jacqueline. Historia. She is also the first personage that Picasso analysed in his series. In the context of the painting, Snyder argues that the scene is the end of the royal couple's sitting for Velázquez and they are preparing to exit, explaining that is "why the menina to the right of the Infanta begins to curtsy". - See 9,755 traveler reviews, 2,547 candid photos, and great deals for Barcelona, Spain, at Tripadvisor. His dark torso and bright face are half-way between the visible and the invisible: emerging from the canvas beyond our view, he moves into our gaze; but when, in a moment, he makes a step to the right, removing himself from our gaze, he will be standing exactly in front of the canvas he is painting; he will enter that region where his painting, neglected for an instant, will, for him, become visible once more, free of shadow and free of reticence. The most common assumption is that the reflection shows the couple in the pose they are holding for Velázquez as he paints them, while their daughter watches; and that the painting therefore shows their view of the scene. MacLaren (1970), p. 122, Jonathan Miller, for example, in 1998, continued to regard the inset picture as a reflection in a mirror. Adding to the inner complexities of the picture and creating further visual interactions is the male dwarf in the foreground, whose raised hand echoes the gesture of the figure in the background, while his playful demeanour, and distraction from the central action, are in complete contrast with it. They appear to be placed outside the picture space in a position similar to that of the viewer, although some scholars have speculated that their image is a reflection from the painting Velázquez is shown working on. [77] By the early 18th century his oeuvre was gaining international recognition, and later in the century British collectors ventured to Spain in search of acquisitions. Campbell, Lorne. fascinaciÓn de “las meninas” “Supongamos que alguien quiere copiar pura y simplemente Las Meninas – le dijo Picasso a su amigo Sabartés -, llegaría un momento en … "The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Paintings", National Gallery Catalogues (new series), London, 1998, According to López-Rey, "[The Arnolfini Portrait] has little in common with Velázquez' composition, the closest and most meaningful antecedent to which is to be found within his own oeuvre in, The restoration was in 1964, and removed earlier "clumsy repainting". [52], The spatial structure and positioning of the mirror's reflection are such that Philip IV and Mariana appear to be standing on the viewer's side of the pictorial space, facing the Infanta and her entourage. The left cheek of the Infanta was almost completely repainted to compensate for a substantial loss of pigment. In this text, however, we would like to talk about the personages that both Velázquez as well as Picasso painted, and to explain in short the biographies of these inhabitants of the museum. Sketch for “Las Meninas”. There is a very special collection of 57 works of Picasso’s personal interpretation of Velazquez’s Las Meninas, the only series on display together in one museum. As the art critic Harriet Stone observes, it is uncertain whether he is "coming or going". He seems to have been given an unusual degree of freedom in the role. EL SECRETO DE LAS MENINAS DE PICASSO. A further internal diagonal passes through the space occupied by the Infanta. 20/08/1957, 26/08/1957. [85], In 2004, the video artist Eve Sussman filmed 89 Seconds at Alcázar, a high-definition video tableau inspired by Las Meninas. In 17th-century Spain, painters rarely enjoyed high social status. The shapes of bright light are similar to the irregular light shapes of the foreground Maid of Honour, but the sharply defined door-frame repeats the border of the mirror. Their glances, along with the king and queen's reflection, affirm the royal couple's presence outside the painted space. "Barbey D'Aurevilly's Une Page D'Histoire: A poetics of incest". 306, 310, McKim-Smith, G., Andersen-Bergdoll, G., Newman, R. Examining Velazquez, Yale University Press, 1988, "and a couple of Lyme-hounds of singular qualities which the King and Queen in very kind manner accepted" "Chronicle of the Kings of England" p408. One scholar points out that the legend dealing with two women, Minerva and Arachne, is on the same side of the mirror as the queen's reflection while the male legend, involving the god Apollo and the satyr Marsyas, is on the side of the king. [82] The copy was admired throughout the 19th century in Britain, and is now in Kingston Lacy. The elusiveness of Las Meninas, according to Dawson Carr, "suggests that art, and life, are an illusion". The words spoken by the sovereign are always treated as a command and so we may owe this masterpiece to a passing wish which only Velazquez was able to turn into reality." [44], Depth and dimension are rendered by the use of linear perspective, by the overlapping of the layers of shapes, and in particular, as stated by Clark, through the use of tone. The character, however, takes on an important presence in the subsequent versions of the series. [34] Although they can only be seen in the mirror reflection, their distant image occupies a central position in the canvas, in terms of social hierarchy as well as composition. It is unlikely that it has anything to do with the optical imperfection of the mirror, which would, in reality, have displayed a focused image of the King and Queen". [91] Several experts, including the former Curator of the Department of Renaissance and Baroque Painting in the Museo del Prado and current Director of the Moll Institute of Studies of Flemish Paintings, in Madrid, Professor Matías Díaz Padrón, suggest that this "could be a model" painted by Velázquez before the completed work which hangs in the Museo del Prado, perhaps to be approved by the king. Subsequently, she had a short-lived brother Philip Prospero (1657–1661), and then Charles (1661–1700) arrived, who succeeded to the throne as Charles II at the age of three. [3] In the background there is a mirror that reflects the upper bodies of the king and queen. [95], Maria Theresa was by then queen of France as wife of.  =  Gif of Pablo Picasso, 1968. It is here that Las Meninas is set. To this, 30 cm on its left side were added to reflect the loss to the original from the fire at the Alcazar in 1734. The cleaning provoked, according to the art historian Federico Zeri, "furious protests, not because the picture had been damaged in any way, but because it looked different". [24], The paintings on the back wall are recognized as representing Minerva Punishing Arachne and Apollo's Victory Over Marsyas. Is just a dream, and even dreams are dreams. While it is a literal reflection of the king and queen, Snyder writes "it is the image of exemplary monarchs, a reflection of ideal character". Lending weight to the latter idea are the gazes of three of the figures—Velázquez, the Infanta, and Maribarbola—who appear to be looking directly at the viewer.[53]. [37] Ernst Gombrich suggested that the picture might have been the sitters' idea: "Perhaps the princess was brought into the royal presence to relieve the boredom of the sitting and the King or the Queen remarked to Velazquez that here was a worthy subject for his brush. As the maids of honour are reflected in each other, so too do the king and queen have their doubles within the painting, in the dimly lit forms of the chaperone and guard, the two who serve and care for their daughter. La serie de Picasso radica en yuxtaposición, el artista no busca mostrar el arte como mímesis sino como exploración.Picasso no suele realizar bocetos preparatorios ya que cede el lienzo a su creatividad. In both paintings the artist is shown working on a canvas, of which only the rear is visible. In 1960, the art historian Kenneth Clark made the point that the success of the composition is a result first and foremost of the accurate handling of light and shade: Each focal point involves us in a new set of relations; and to paint a complex group like the Meninas, the painter must carry in his head a single consistent scale of relations which he can apply throughout. Museo del Prado, Madrid | Pablo Picasso. The painter is turning his eyes towards us only in so far as we happen to occupy the same position as his subject. 46 x 37,5 cm. Esta exposición quiere poner en valor una parte fundamental de la colección del museo, explorando los vínculos de Picasso con la tradición pictórica española y especialmente con Velázquez, y a la vez proponer nuevas lecturas de la serie Las Meninas a través de las numerosas interpretaciones y aportaciones que diversos artistas contemporáneos han realizado posteriormente. In 1957, Picasso started an extended series of variations on Las Meninas 1656 of Diego Velazquez.The series is both a confrontation with one of the most important works in the history of Spanish painting as well as a commentary on contemporary events in Spain, observed by Picasso from his exile in France. Do you know the inhabitants of the Museu Picasso? Her opposite number creates a broader but less defined reflection of her attention, making a diagonal space between them, in which their charge stands protected.[47]. Philip IV's first wife, Elizabeth of France, died in 1644, and their only son, Balthasar Charles, died two years later. De todos sus trabajos se destacan las 57 obras en las que interpreta a las Meninas de Velázquez. The mirror is a perfectly defined unbroken pale rectangle within a broad black rectangle. He supervised the decoration and interior design of the rooms holding the most valued paintings, adding mirrors, statues and tapestries. The dog is thought to be descended from two mastiffs from Lyme Hall in Cheshire, given to Philip III in 1604 by James I of England. There is no documentation as to the dates or reasons for the trimming. Required fields are marked *, Captcha: * [8] When he painted Las Meninas, he had been with the royal household for 33 years. [86], A 2008 exhibition at the Museu Picasso called "Forgetting Velázquez: Las Meninas" included art responding to Velázquez's painting by The main pigments used for this painting were lead white, azurite (for the skirt of the kneeling menina), vermilion and red lake, ochres and carbon blacks. López-Rey (1999), Vol. In the painting by Velázquez he is situated in the foreground, next to a mastiff dog with which he seems to be playing with, with his foot. A mirror on the back wall reflects the upper bodies and heads of two figures identified from other paintings, and by Palomino, as King Philip IV (10) and Queen Mariana (11). It is displayed here under Fair Use. [57]. [17] A 1794 inventory reverted to a version of the earlier title, The Family of Philip IV, which was repeated in the records of 1814. McKim-Smith, G., Andersen-Bergdoll, G., Newman, R. Brooke, Xanthe. [28] Writing in 1980, the critics Snyder and Cohn observed: Velázquez wanted the mirror to depend upon the useable [sic] painted canvas for its image. The five-year-old infanta, who later married Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, was at this point Philip and Mariana's only surviving child. According to López-Rey, in no other composition did Velázquez so dramatically lead the eye to areas beyond the viewer's sight: both the canvas he is seen painting, and the space beyond the frame where the king and queen stand can only be imagined. See more ideas about Picasso, Pablo picasso, Picasso paintings. 194 x 260 cm. The informality of his pose, his shadowed profile, and his dark hair all serve to make him a mirror image to the kneeling attendant of the Infanta. In the painting he is placed at the back, in front of an open door where the light slips in, and it doesn’t remain clearly defined whether he’s entering or leaving the room. Since the popularity of Italian artwas then … No single theory, however, has found universal agreement. As the light streams in from the right it brightly glints on the braid and golden hair of the female dwarf, who is nearest the light source. Why should he want that? Así fue como, años más tarde, decide hacer una reinterpretación personal de este famoso cuadro. Oil on canvas. Drawing may be summary, colours drab, but if the relations of tone are true, the picture will hold. Since the popularity of Italian art was then at its height among British connoisseurs, they concentrated on paintings that showed obvious Italian influence, largely ignoring others such as Las Meninas.[78]. Las Meninas has long been recognised as one of the most important paintings in Western art history. Of the real thing—of the art of Velázquez. The dress of the lady was often interpreted as that of a nun. Pablo Picasso, Madame Canals (also known as Portrait of Benedetta Bianco), 1905, oil and charcoal on canvas; photo courtesy of Museu Picasso. Jonathan Miller pointed out that apart from "adding suggestive gleams at the bevelled edges, the most important way the mirror betrays its identity is by disclosing imagery whose brightness is so inconsistent with the dimness of the surrounding wall that it can only have been borrowed, by reflection, from the strongly illuminated figures of the King and Queen".[48]. Museu Picasso, Barcelona. [26] To the right of the Infanta are two dwarfs: the achondroplastic German, Mari Bárbola (4),[26] and the Italian, Nicolás Pertusato (5), who playfully tries to rouse a sleepy mastiff with his foot. [55], Snyder proposes it is "a mirror of majesty" or an allusion to the mirror for princes. That work, the Las Meninas series and Three Doves repeat the same background of a luminous blue sky. In the conclusion of The Order of Things Foucault explained why he undertook such a forensic analysis of Las Meninas: let us, if we may, look for the previously existing law of that interplay [i.e., the law of representation] in the painting of Las Meninas… In Classical thought, the personage for whom the representation exists, and who represents himself within it, recognizing himself therein as an image or reflection, he who ties together all the interlacing threads of the 'representation in the form of a picture or table'—he is never to be found in that table himself. "Enslaved sovereign: aesthetics of power in Foucault, Velázquez and Ovid". Las Meninas a partir de la primera de las variaciones que la integran. His work also highlights, with its fragmentation, the artificiality of reproduction as a way of seeing works of art today. Museu Picasso: The Las Meninas room is worth entry on its own. La serie de cuadros, elaborada en 1957, está actualmente expuesta en el Museo Picasso de Barcelona, (es la única que se conserva del artista) y consta de 45 interpretaciones; un completo estudio de la obra. [56] Later he focuses his attention on the princess, writing that Velázquez's portrait is "the painted equivalent of a manual for the education of the princess—a mirror of the princess". [12] A detailed description of Las Meninas, which provides the identification of several of the figures, was published by Antonio Palomino ("the Giorgio Vasari of the Spanish Golden Age") in 1724. [81] In 1879 John Singer Sargent painted a small-scale copy of Las Meninas, and in 1882 painted a homage to the painting in his The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit, while the Irish artist Sir John Lavery chose Velázquez's masterpiece as the basis for his portrait The Royal Family at Buckingham Palace, 1913. En cuanto a las versiones de Las meninas, tal vez la más célebre es la de Picasso; esta obra le impresionó cuando era joven. A mere confrontation, eyes catching one another's glance, direct looks superimposing themselves upon one another as they cross. [31] The wall to the right is hung with a grid of eight smaller paintings, visible mainly as frames owing to their angle from the viewer. Lowrie, Joyce (1999). Snyder, Joel and Ted Cohen. The fact of being a direct gift of the artist to the Museu Picasso, in honour of its founder, Jaume Sabartés, makes the value of this series even higher within the context of Barcelona’s heritage. The positioning of such an area of strong tonal contrast right at the rear of the pictorial space is a daring compositional tactic. In the Rokeby Venus—his only surviving nude—the face of the subject is visible, blurred beyond any realism, in a mirror. A Mazo portrait of the widowed Queen Mariana again shows, through a doorway in the Alcázar, the young king with dwarfs, possibly including Maribarbola, and attendants who offer him a drink. Intentamos facilitar estas informaciones y vinculaciones a través de otros medios, como nuestra web o el blog. [17] Due to its size, importance, and value, the painting is not lent out for exhibition. As spectators, the viewer's position in relation to the painting is uncertain. [18][19] However, in the opinion of López-Rey, the "restoration was impeccable". 1957. "[76]. Nieto is shown pausing, with his right knee bent and his feet on different steps. Its complex and enigmatic composition raises questions about reality and illusion, and creates an uncertain relationship between the viewer and the figures depicted. A clear geometric shape, like a lit face, draws the attention of the viewer more than a broken geometric shape such as the door, or a shadowed or oblique face such as that of the dwarf in the foreground or that of the man in the background. [16] In 1843, the Prado catalogue listed the work for the first time as Las Meninas. Although constrained by rigid etiquette, the art-loving king seems to have had a close relationship with the painter. Foucault describes the painting in meticulous detail, but in a language that is "neither prescribed by, nor filtered through the various texts of art-historical investigation". Goya, however, replaces the atmospheric and warm perspective of Las Meninas with what Pierre Gassier calls a sense of "imminent suffocation". [49] The bareness of the dark ceiling, the back of Velázquez's canvas, and the strict geometry of framed paintings contrast with the animated, brilliantly lit and sumptuously painted foreground entourage. The mirror image is only a reflection. José Nieto served in the palace until his death. [84] Photographer Joel-Peter Witkin was commissioned by the Spanish Ministry of Culture to create a work titled Las Meninas, New Mexico (1987) which references Velázquez's painting as well as other works by Spanish artists. The face of Velázquez is dimly lit by light that is reflected, rather than direct. As in Las Meninas, the royal family in Goya's work is apparently visiting the artist's studio. «Página web sobre la versión de Kingston Lacy». Las Meninas[a] (pronounced [laz meˈninas]; Spanish for 'The Ladies-in-waiting') is a 1656 painting in the Museo del Prado in Madrid, by Diego Velázquez, the leading artist of the Spanish Golden Age. Las Meninas is a series of 58 paintings that Pablo Picasso painted in 1957 by performing a comprehensive analysis, reinterpreting and recreating several times Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez. Carr, Dawson W. "Painting and reality: the art and life of Velázquez". [42], However, the focal point of the painting is widely debated. As an adult, she married the Count of Peñaranda, grandee of Spain. The painting communicates through images which, in order to be understood, must thus be considered in sequence, one after the other, in the context of a history that is still unfolding. 24 x 30.5 cm. Bankes described his purchase as "the glory of my collection", noting that he had been "a long while in treaty for it and was obliged to pay a high price". All orders are custom made and most ship worldwide within 24 hours. The Case of Picasso's, Doña Antonia de Ipeñarrieta y Galdós and Her Son Don Luis, Prince Baltasar Carlos in the Riding School, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Las_Meninas&oldid=991434138, Velazquez portraits in the Museo del Prado, Articles containing Portuguese-language text, Articles containing Spanish-language text, Wikipedia indefinitely move-protected pages, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with Spanish-language sources (es), Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat-VIAF identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Pablo Picasso. Due to exposure to pollution and crowds of visitors, the once-vivid contrasts between blue and white pigments in the costumes of the meninas have faded. The young Infanta Margaret Theresa is surrounded by her entourage of maids of honour, chaperone, bodyguard, two dwarfs and a dog. For this reason his features, though not as sharply defined, are more visible than those of the dwarf who is much nearer the light source. Painting was regarded as a craft, not an art such as poetry or music. Me enamoré por completo de las pinturas. The work is a recreation of the moments leading up to and directly following the approximately 89 seconds when the royal family and their courtiers would have come together in the exact configuration of Velázquez's painting. In this respect, Calderón de la Barca's play Life is a Dream is commonly seen as the literary equivalent of Velázquez's painting: What is a life? The mastiff dog is also a character in itself. Museo Picasso, Barcelona, Spain. Ten years later, in 1666, Mazo painted Infanta Margaret Theresa, who was then 15 and just about to leave Madrid to marry the Holy Roman Emperor. A frenzy. The suite is fully preserved at the Museu Picasso in Barcelona, it is known that he sold the first and second interpretations of the meninas to the American art collector Peggy Guggenheim, owner of the Art of this century gallery. On the other hand, his royal portraits, designed to be seen across vast palace rooms, feature more strongly than his other works the bravura handling for which he is famous: "Velázquez's handling of paint is exceptionally free, and as one approaches Las Meninas there is a point at which the figures suddenly dissolve into smears and blobs of paint. Picasso did not vary the characters within the series, but largely retained the naturalness of the scene; according to the museum, his works constitute an "exhaustive study of form, rhythm, colour and movement". By painting so many variations, he sought to understand the key elements of a work he so admired while also giving his Meninas a life of their own. En este museo pude ver la excelente formación académica del artista. [83] A print of 1973 by Richard Hamilton called Picasso's Meninas draws on both Velázquez and Picasso. The artist achieved his intentions and Las Meninas became the only work to which the writer on art Antonio Palomino devoted a separate section in his history of Spanish painters of 1724, ... El retrato español: del Greco a Picasso, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 2004, pp. After Velázquez's death, Philip wrote "I am crushed" in the margin of a memorandum on the choice of his successor. [11], The painting was referred to in the earliest inventories as La Familia ("The Family"). Madrid 2019, Oil and traces of red grease pencil on canvas. In the works of the series The Doves, painted during a break from the obsession of Picasso for Las Meninas and to which they are formally linked in the composition, it could be considered that the black dove makes a reference to the aposentador. [92] The version is missing some of the final work's details and nuances such as the royal couple's reflection in the mirror. 12 [29] The royal couple's reflection pushes in the opposite direction, forward into the picture space. In the background are figures in two further receding doorways, one of which was the new King Charles (Margaret Theresa's brother), and another the dwarf Maribarbola. Much of her lightly coloured dress is dimmed by shadow. Museu Picasso, Barcelona. However, the painter has set him forward of the light streaming through the window, and so minimised the contrast of tone on this foreground figure. Muchas gracias por tu sugerencia, en el museo decidimos eliminar las referencias a la obra de Velázquez para centrar la atención en las pinturas originales de Picasso, en lugar de en reproducciones de otras obras. [61], Jon Manchip White notes that the painting can be seen as a résumé of the whole of Velázquez's life and career, as well as a summary of his art to that point. Oil and traces of red grease pencil on canvas. [1][2] Some look out of the canvas towards the viewer, while others interact among themselves. Se considera que en la elaboración de “Las Meninas” que realizó Picasso intervienen una trama de elementos que es necesario tener en cuenta para interpretar y evaluar esta obra cuya serie está integrada por cuarenta y ocho lienzos que fueron donados en mayo del 1968 al Museo Picasso de Barcelona. By the early 1650s, Velázquez was widely respected in Spain as a connoisseur. According to Lavery, "Thinking that royal blue might be an appropriate colour, I mixed it on the palette, and taking a brush he [George V] applied it to the Garter ribbon. George V visited Lavery's studio during the execution of the painting, and, perhaps remembering the legend that Philip IV had daubed the cross of the Knights of Santiago on the figure of Velázquez, asked Lavery if he could contribute to the portrait with his own hand. It represents a midpoint between what he sees as the two "great discontinuities" in European thought, the classical and the modern: "Perhaps there exists, in this painting by Velázquez, the representation as it were of Classical representation, and the definition of the space it opens up to us ... representation, freed finally from the relation that was impeding it, can offer itself as representation in its pure form. [45] For José Ortega y Gasset, light divides the scene into three distinct parts, with foreground and background planes strongly illuminated, between which a darkened intermediate space includes silhouetted figures.[46]. Las Meninas (María Agustina Sarmiento). In the early 1650s he gave Velázquez the Pieza Principal ("main room") of the late Balthasar Charles's living quarters, by then serving as the palace museum, to use as his studio. [28] They can be identified from the inventory as more Mazo copies of paintings from the Rubens Ovid series, though only two of the subjects can be seen. Pablo Picasso, Las Meninas (group), from Las Meninas series, 1957, oil on canvas; photo courtesy of Museu Picasso The point of view of the picture is approximately that of the royal couple, though this has been widely debated. Despite certain spatial ambiguities this is the painter's most thoroughly rendered architectural space, and the only one in which a ceiling is shown. He is a quite recent creature, which the demiurge of knowledge fabricated with its own hands less than two hundred years ago: but he has grown old so quickly that it has been only too easy to imagine that he had been waiting for thousands of years in the darkness for that moment of illumination in which he would finally be known. It would have been significant to Velázquez, since the rules of the Order of Santiago excluded those whose occupations were mechanical. 350. Fermín Aguayo, Avigdor Arikha, Claudio Bravo, Juan Carreño de Miranda, Quien hizo su propia interpretación de la obra, tomando su propia adaptación, de manera que pudiera ser entendida por los espectadores. direct gift of the artist to the Museu Picasso, Museums in the news more than ever, in times of pandemic, Inhabitants of the museum: María Picasso López, the mother of a genius, Luxury protection for ‘Science and Charity’, Inhabitants of the museum: The Infanta Margarita Maria, a tragic icon, Josep Rocarol, the set designer who saved the monastery of Pedralbes, The international symposium “Around Picasso”. Se “Il ritratto dei coniugi Arnolfini” di Van Eyck è fonte di ispirazione per Velázquez quando dipinge “Las Meninas”, quest’ultimo dipinto deve aver affascinato in modo particolare Picasso quando, all’età di quattordici anni, si reca con il padre a vedere i capolavori del Museo del Prado. Las Meninas és una sèrie de 58 quadres que Pablo Picasso va pintar el 1957 realitzant una anàlisi exhaustiva, reinterpretant i recreant diverses vegades Las Meninas de Diego Velázquez.La suite es conserva íntegrament al Museu Picasso de Barcelona, sent l'única sèrie completa de l'artista que perdura junta. Although its colours are lighter, the light is less strong. Solo se conserva un boceto de Las Meninas en el Museo Picasso que será el punto de partida de la serie. [65] Foucault viewed the painting without regard to the subject matter, nor to the artist's biography, technical ability, sources and influences, social context, or relationship with his patrons. [22] The analysis revealed the usual pigments of the baroque period frequently used by Velázquez in his other paintings. [59], Jonathan Miller asks: "What are we to make of the blurred features of the royal couple? The man in the doorway, however, is the vanishing point. [7] In a series of portraits of the late 1630s and 1640s—all now in the Prado—Velázquez painted clowns and other members of the royal household posing as gods, heroes, and philosophers; the intention is certainly partly comic, at least for those in the know, but in a highly ambiguous way. Isabel de Velasco: Daughter of a family with close ties to the royal court. Madrid, 1715-1724. v. 2, p. 342-343, Foucault's 'Las Meninas' and art-historical methods, Las 14 obras maestras del museo del Prado en mega alta resolución en Google Earth, "Una réplica exacta de Las Meninas en Zamora", 'troceada' en 140 fragmentos, "Velázquez portrait has pride of place in Prado – but original may be in Dorset", The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences, How Do the Political Effects of Pictures Come about? Escribí una entrada en Medium en referencia. Similar to Lopez-Rey, he describes three foci. [90], Bankes' smaller version of the painting is now in the country house of Kingston Lacy in Dorset. Because of these complexities, Las Meninas has been one of the most widely analyzed works in Western painting. The 19th-century British art collector William John Bankes travelled to Spain during the Peninsular War (1808–1814) and acquired a copy of Las Meninas painted by Mazo,[81] which he believed to be an original preparatory oil sketch by Velázquez—although Velázquez did not usually paint studies. Snyder suggests that Nieto appears in the doorway so that the king and queen might depart. Recorrido por las salas La visita a las salas del Museo tiene por objetivo establecer el contacto directo entre los alumnos y las cuarenta y cuatro obras de esta serie que tienen como referente directo Las Meninas. Michael Craig-Martin, Salvador Dalí, Juan Downey, Goya, Hamilton, Mazo, Vik Muniz, Jorge Oteiza, Picasso, Antonio Saura, Franz von Stuck, Sussman, Manolo Valdés, and Witkin, among others. [15] It was damaged in the fire that destroyed the Alcázar in 1734, and was restored by court painter Juan García de Miranda (1677–1749). According to Palomino, Philip ordered this to be added after Velázquez's death, "and some say that his Majesty himself painted it". As though the painter could not at the same time be seen on the picture where he is represented and also see that upon which he is representing something."[68]. Las Meninas. José Nieto Velázquez: He was the aposentador of the queen; that is to say, the person responsible for the separation and selection of the rooms for the members of the royalty and of the location of the offices and bedrooms for the palace residents. First, there is the appearance of natural light within the painted room and beyond it. The Infanta, however, stands in full illumination, and with her face turned towards the light source, even though her gaze is not. Not only do the life-size proportions of the painting preclude such an appreciation, but also the fact that the heads of the figures are turned in different directions means that our gaze is deflected. Picasso conoció a Velázquez en el Museo del Prado, allí pudo apreciar su obra llamándole especialmente la atención el cuadro de Las Meninas (o La familia de Felipe IV) pintado en 1656. In the grisaille, or monochrome sketch, that Picasso painted first on his versions of Las Meninas, the figure of Mari Bárbola is sketched and simplified and the characteristic features of her disorder are represented by the artist as a series of lines and dots very close together in the centre of the circle that represents her face. Las Meninas contains the only known double portrait of the royal couple painted by Velázquez.[36]. With this skilled twist of the point of view that the painter included in the court scene, Velázquez reiterated one of his vindications; the fact that painting was the highest level of art, at the same time as taking advantage of making known the wealth of the Spanish court in a scene which is apparently trivial and quotidian. He may use all kinds of devices to help him do this—perspective is one of them—but ultimately the truth about a complete visual impression depends on one thing, truth of tone. Pablo Picasso. Las Meninas (detail), 1957. Inspired designs on t-shirts, posters, stickers, home decor, and more by independent artists and designers from around the world. But here the procedure is more realistic to the degree that the "rearview" mirror in which the royal couple appears is no longer convex but flat. [94], The Kingston Lacy painting was previously owned by Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos and then by Ceán Bermúdez, who were both friends of Goya whose portraits he painted. El sorprendente palacio de estilo clasicista inspirado en el Renacimiento tiene una superficie de 32.000 metros cuadrados y cuenta con una hermosa decoración basada en pinturas murales y hermosos elementos arquitectónicos. This compositional element operates within the picture in a number of ways. In this case, she was daughter of the Count of Salvatierra and heir of the Duchy of Abrantes on her mother’s side. Ressam : Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) Resim : Las Meninas (1957) Nerede : Museu Picasso, Barselona, İspanya. The exact date of the birth of Isabel de Velasco is unknown, she was married to the Duke of Arcos and died in 1659, after having been lady of honour of the princess. He was also responsible for the sourcing, attribution, hanging and inventory of many of the Spanish king's paintings. During the remaining eight years of his life, he painted only a few works, mostly portraits of the royal family. Whereas the reflection in the Flemish painting recomposed objects and characters within a space that is condensed and deformed by the curve of the mirror, that of Velázquez refuses to play with the laws of perspective: it projects onto the canvas the perfect double of the king and queen positioned in front of the painting. The painting is believed by F. J. Sánchez Cantón to depict the main chamber in the Royal Alcazar of Madrid during the reign of King Philip IV of Spain, and presents several figures, most identifiable from the Spanish court, captured, according to some commentators, in a particular moment as if in a snapshot. A reflection of what? "[81], Between August and December 1957, Pablo Picasso painted a series of 58 interpretations of Las Meninas, and figures from it, which currently fill the Las Meninas room of the Museu Picasso in Barcelona, Spain. Quoted in: Kahr (1975), p. 225, "The composition is anchored by the two strong diagonals that intersect at about the spot where the Infanta stands ..." López-Rey (1999), p. 217. In Las Hilanderas, probably painted the year after Las Meninas, two different scenes from Ovid are shown: one in contemporary dress in the foreground, and the other partly in antique dress, played before a tapestry on the back wall of a room behind the first. In the work of Velázquez we can find her in an attitude of curtsying; a gesture that Picasso examined in various of his versions. Thanks to the painting we are able to identify the fact that she is an achondroplastic dwarf, a disorder that is characterised by abnormally short limbs and particular facial features. [69], Foucault's analysis of Las Meninas, although on one level a contribution to art history, is more about epistemology, specifically the 'cognitive status of the modern human sciences'.[70]. Las Meninas Series (MPB 70.433 a 70.489) Rooms 12-14. Las Meninas è un ciclo di 58 dipinti e studi realizzati nel 1957 dal pittore spagnolo Pablo Picasso.. Il ciclo è interamente conservato nel Museu Picasso di Barcellona, per volontà dell'artista.. Picasso, durante gli ultimi anni di attività, dipinse molte re-interpretazioni di quadri di grandi artisti del passato: qui si tratta di Diego Velázquez e le sue Las Meninas. Gallery Portraits were also used to glorify the artist as well as royalty or members of the higher classes, as may have been Velázquez's intention with this work. [31] The 20th-century French philosopher and cultural critic Michel Foucault observed that the light from the window illuminates both the studio foreground and the unrepresented area in front of it, in which the king, the queen, and the viewer are presumed to be situated. It is a history that is still unframed, even in this painting composed of frames within frames. Goya's royal family is presented on a "stage facing the public, while in the shadow of the wings the painter, with a grim smile, points and says: 'Look at them and judge for yourself!' Las Meninas de Picasso, (año 1957). More specifically, the crook of his arm is where the orthogonals of the windows and lights of the ceiling meet. [40] Others speculate that Velázquez represents himself painting the Infanta Margaret Theresa. Nieto is seen only by the king and queen, who share the viewer's point of view, and not by the figures in the foreground. There are various theories about the nature of the incorporation of the monarchs: among others, that they were entering the room in the same moment or that they were posing for the portrait and that this was the scene that was developing in front of them. This provides a new reading to the composition. Like Las Meninas, they often depict formal visits by important collectors or rulers, a common occurrence, and "show a room with a series of windows dominating one side wall and paintings hung between the windows as well as on the other walls". Blue pencil on paper (page from a sketchbook). [7] Nonetheless, Velázquez worked his way up through the ranks of the court of Philip IV, and in February 1651 was appointed palace chamberlain (aposentador mayor del palacio). In the Picassian approach, this figure maintains a playful gesture, but it is now completely simplified as an black outline on a white foreground; this could be due to a ray of lateral light that enters through the windows behind his back, bleaching the figure, or because it is the figure which is furthest from the protagonist; the painter. Picasso donated his series in its entirety in 1968 to the Museu Picasso, Barcelona, in memory of his great friend and secretary Jaime Sabartés, who had recently died. [10], During the 1640s and 1650s, Velázquez served as both court painter and curator of Philip IV's expanding collection of European art. [5] Kahr asserts that this was the best way for Velázquez to show that he was "neither a craftsman or a tradesman, but an official of the court". [4] More recently, it has been described as "Velázquez's supreme achievement, a highly self-conscious, calculated demonstration of what painting could achieve, and perhaps the most searching comment ever made on the possibilities of the easel painting".[5]. The luminous image in the mirror appears to reflect the king and queen themselves, but it does more than just this: the mirror outdoes nature. In this, as in some of his early bodegones, the figures look directly at the viewer as if seeking a reaction. Her face is framed by the pale gossamer of her hair, setting her apart from everything else in the picture. Velázquez painted portraits of Mariana and her children,[8] and although Philip himself resisted being portrayed in his old age he did allow Velázquez to include him in Las Meninas. The Baroque painter Luca Giordano said that it represents the "theology of painting", and in 1827 the president of the Royal Academy of Arts Sir Thomas Lawrence described the work in a letter to his successor David Wilkie as "the true philosophy of the art". Pablo Picasso.  +  The long-handled brushes he used enabled him to stand back and judge the total effect. Dec 26, 2015 - Explore Jane Savage's board "Picasso Las Meninas", followed by 270 people on Pinterest. Michel Foucault devoted the opening chapter of The Order of Things (1966) to an analysis of Las Meninas. El museo pictorico y escala optica. Velázquez further emphasises the Infanta by his positioning and lighting of her maids of honour, whom he sets opposing one another: to left and right, before and behind the Infanta. It is a meticulous copy made in Iowa City, painted in oil on 140 panels, which together reconstruct the actual size of the painting of 318 x 276 cm. "A masterpiece in waiting: the response to 'Las Meninas' in nineteenth century Britain", in Stratton-Pruitt, Suzanne, ed. The princess was the character of the court who was better portrayed by Velázquez and she is also the most repeated in Picasso’s versions. [73][74] The dress worn in the two scenes also differs: the main scene is in contemporary dress, while the scene with Christ uses conventional iconographic biblical dress. It has been debated whether the ruling couple are standing beside the viewer or have replaced the viewer, who sees the scene through their eyes. [b], A thorough technical investigation including a pigment analysis of Las Meninas was conducted around 1981 in Museo Prado. Francisco Goya etched a print of Las Meninas in 1778,[80] and later used Velázquez's painting as the model for his Charles IV of Spain and His Family. This page was last edited on 30 November 2020, at 01:26. Sussman had assembled a team of 35, including an architect, a set designer, a choreographer, a costume designer, actors, actresses, and a film crew. Picasso analyses this gesture in various of the works of this series, placing special attention on this character. López-Rey (1999), Vol. Podemos encontrar en el museo Picasso de Barcelona, la única serie completa del artista. VEGAP. On various occasions we have stated that this is one of the most relevant works of our collection; even more so, given that it is the only series by Picasso, of those that he painted during the decade of the nineteen fifties, which is conserved and exhibited as a whole and has not been divided up, as it happened with the other series tackled by the artist during those years. 100 x 81 cm. By the early 18th century his oeuvre was gaining international recognition, and later in the century British collectors ventured to Spain in search of acquisitions. Situado en la Montaña de Montjüic, el imponente edificio del Palacio Nacional de Montjüic fue creado para la Exposición Internacional de 1929. Just behind them, Velázquez portrays himself working at a large canvas. Moreover, in showing the figures whom the painter observes, and also, through the mediation of the mirror, the figures who are observing him, the painter achieves a reciprocity of gazes that makes the interior oscillate with the exterior and which causes the image to "emerge from its frame" at the same time that it invites the visitors to enter the painting. According to Lucien Dällenbach: The mirror [in Las Meninas] faces the observer as in Van Eyck's painting.