One of most
controversy Masterpiece of the world, Las Meninas is a profound and enigmatic
painting that release many interpretations.
It has
been painted by Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez, Spain's greatest painter,
who was also one of the supreme artists of all time.
He was
the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV where, in addition to
numerous renditions of scenes of historical and cultural significance, he
painted scores of portraits of the Spanish royal family, other notable European
figures, culminating in the realization of his masterpiece Las Meninas (1656).
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| Photograph The Gallery - Collection Corbis |
(WebMuseum, Fr)
What
transmits this painting?
Las
Meninas (Spanish for the Maids of Honor) is a portrait of Infanta Margarita,
the daughter of King Philip IV, and his second wife Mariana of Austria. The
painting's complex and enigmatic.
This piece of art describes as perfection the world
through the eyes of a Monarch – The King! – By swapping
the role of viewer and canvas, showing us the world a monarch sees. A world
deeply different from what we know what we live…
You are the king…
You stand patiently posing for your portrait,
while the royal painter transmits your form on his canvas, looking pensively at
you…
This is the position into which Velázquez puts
the viewer of Las Meninas; the
scene is somber, cold…
The first interpretation of Las Meninas shows it's
a big and paradoxical picture, a portrait not of the king and queen but of the
anxious court mirrored in their (our?) eyes – Really?
In other Terms, We are the Monarchs and we need
to adopt it point of View…
“It's a grave, chilly
little world. No one (except the dog-kicker) seems relaxed and no one looks
emotionally close to the monarchs – to us, who stand on our place, reflecting
their person on the right side mirror. The scene is intensely theatrical,
everyone in their costumes and everyone on best behavior.
The "Meninas" are the two identically-dressed
maids who fuss over the Infanta Margaret Theresa, an expensively dressed little
blond girl who, even as she plays in front of her royal parents, appears on her
mettle, under scrutiny. She looks nervously at them while two court dwarfs and
a dog are on hand to provide entertainment. One dwarf kicks the dog. At a door
in the background a man is coming with news from Spain's vast and, when Velázquez
was at work, decaying empire.”
(The Guardian, UK)
But,
there is a peculiar strangeness (paradox) in Las
Meninas; Infanta Margarita is definitely not posing for her portrait. Next we
see that the King and the Queen are reflected in the back wall mirror of his
studio.
“Therefore we assume that Velazquez is painting the
portrait of the royal couple who is standing behind his easel…”
…But as we look deeper we
discover that Infanta Margarita is the center of attention and focus of Las
Meninas.
Presumably King Philip IV
of Spain was happy with this ingenious conceptual portrait. As painter to the
king, Velázquez was showered with honors.
One thing is sure! Velazquez’s
technique of painting was inspired by Baroque.
Baroque (XVI - XVII
centuries) is the period and the style that used exaggerated motion in order to
produce drama and tension in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music.
Velazquez’s expressionistic
handling of paint, his exploitation of its materiality, and his tendencies
toward abstraction surpassed the boundaries of Baroque and therefore by looking
deeper in his paintings we start to sense his close proximity to our Modern
times.
That is why there is not only one explanation for this masterpiece! Everyone his own feelings and way of perception... (#BaroqueStyle)
That is why there is not only one explanation for this masterpiece! Everyone his own feelings and way of perception... (#BaroqueStyle)
Velazquez the illusionniste... Anyway, it is a great artist you can admire at Prado
Museum in Madrid !
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| Las Meninas, Prado Museum, Madrid (Spain) |
Sources: ibiblio.fr,
theguardian.com