This edition of the 9-Note Register brings you nine artworks across history that draw from Diego Velázquez’s 1656 masterpiece Las Meninas.
Described as the “theology of painting,” it has been said about the painting Las Meninas (“The Maids of Honor”) that “if ever a painter wrought a miracle of illusion with brush and pigment that painter was Velazquez in his Las Meninas.” It has been voted as the best painting of all time by a poll of artists and critics and been extensively written about over the centuries. Indeed, Michel Foucault’s entire first chapter of Les Mots et Les Choses is about the painting.
The magic of the painting defies simple explanation, but on a basic level the artwork plays a wonderful game between painting, model, and viewer. Velázquez portrays himself working at a painting, looking out to where the viewer would be. In the background, there is a mirror reflecting King Philip IV and Queen Mariana—possibly posing where the viewer is standing for the very piece Velázquez is painting. It also effectively captures a singular, passing moment long before the arrival of photography. (If you want to know more, Wikipedia will give you a fine overview and from there you can dive as deep as you see fit.)
The painting has inspired artists from Picasso to Dali to Carrie Mae Weems, who have examined, reimagined, or referenced the piece in their own work. (Picasso alone made forty-four paintings based on the masterpiece in 1957.) Below, enjoy nine pieces that pay homage to Velázquez’s master painting in this week’s 9-Note Register.
The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit, by John Singer Sargent
(1) In The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit, John Singer Sargent “masterfully transcended portraiture, providing a continuously evocative meditation on openness and enigma, public and private, light and shadow.” “The historical precedent for [John Singer Sargent’s] Boit portrait can be found in [Las Meninas]. Sargent had traveled to Madrid in 1879 to make copies after Velázquez …. Sargent adapted Velázquez’s mysterious space, his dark subdued palette, and the manner in which his self-possessed princess directly confronts the viewer.” (Museum of Fine Arts Boston)
Les Ménines, vue d’ensemble, d’après Velázquez, by Pablo Picasso
(2) In 1957, Pablo Picasso created 44 works exploring Las Meninas. He said: “If someone want to copy Las Meninas, entirely in good faith, for example, upon reaching a certain point and if that one was me, I would say..what if you put them a little more to the right or left? I’ll try to do it my way, forgetting about Velázquez. The test would surely bring me to modify or change the light because of having changed the position of a character. So, little by little, that would be a detestable Meninas for a traditional painter, but would be my Meninas.” (PabloPicasso.org) You can see them at the Museu Picasso today.
Picasso’s meninas by Richard Hamilton
(3) Of Richard Hamilton’s 1973 etching Picasso’s meninas, the artist wrote: “I saw Velázquez’ Las Meniñas at the Prado for the first time in 1972 – its reputation as being among the greatest paintings that exist is well founded. The temptation to paraphrase Velázquez in Picasso’s styles proved irresistible … Las Meninas provided an opportunity to run the gamut of Picasso’s ‘periods’ in one plate – from ‘Rose’ through ‘Analytical Cubism’ to ‘Primitive’ to ‘Neo-Classical’ and so on. The stage of Velázquez’ Meninas could carry a lot of action, and the mysterious ambiguities (it seems to contain an infinity of cross reflections with the space the picture confronts), allowed some narrative interplay with substitutions of personalities as well as styles.” (The Tate)
Les Ménines, Œuvre stéréoscopique by Salvador Dali
(4) In 1948, Salvador Dali “explained the origins of his experience as a painter and gave out his recipe for those able to understand and apply them. Dalí undertakes a comparative analysis of the qualities that an artist must have—technique, inspiration, colour, outline, genius, composition, originality, mysteriousness—and he grades various masters such as Leonardo, Meissonier, Ingres, Velázquez, Bouguereau, Dalí himself, Picasso, Raphael, Manet, Jan Vermeer and Mondrian. In this personal classification, Velázquez is only surpassed by the Dutch painter Jan Vermeer, while Mondrian acts as a counterbalance to the admiration he feels for all the other painters.” (Salvador-Dali.org) References to Velázquez’s paintings appear in numerous artworks by Dali, including this stereoscope from 1975-76, playing with optics both figuratively and literally.
Framed by Modernism by Carrie Mae Weems
(5) Carrie Mae Weems’ work Framed by Modernism (1996), “is a gelatin silver print triptych that depicts a nude Weems standing in various poses in a corner at the back of [Robert] Colescott’s studio. Colescott himself is seen in the foreground of the studio space, standing next to an easel with his head in his hand in one frame and on his hip in another. The arrangement is similar to that of Velázquez’s Las Meninas: as the artist looks out toward the viewer, and with Weems sequestered in the background, the relative roles of the artist, model, and viewer are in question. But in truth it is Weems who, despite her diminutive presence, is in control of the situation. As she noted: ‘[There is] this sort of deep looking at one another, even as we’re looking at his painting. And he is looking at me as the subject and a maker, and my critical gaze at his painting and at himself. So I think it kind of works in this circular way. You keep coming back to a level of conversation, of dialogue that brings us in and out of painting in fascinating ways. And I think that the work is sort of exceptional.'” (Colescott in the 1980s and ’90s: Stranger in a Strange Land by Lowery Stokes Sims)
89 Seconds at Alcázar by Eve Sussman
(6) Eve Sussman’s video work 89 Seconds at Alcázar (2004) recreates the moments leading up to and immediately following the scene in Las Meninas. “Sussman’s inspiration for the video was her first glimpse of Las Meninas at Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid where she was amazed at the snapshot-like quality of the painting, which predates photography by centuries… Rather than re-create Las Meninas, Sussman used it as a point of departure for improvisation and artistic revision while staying faithful to the time period in which it was created. Eve Sussman and choreographer, Claudia de Serpa Soares, collaborated with the actors to invent the action in the room. The piece is fundamentally a fluid choreography; each gesture in the video implies weight and narrative much as the original gestures Velázquez captured.” (Rice Gallery)
Royal Palace (Palacio Real) by José Manuel Ballester
(7) In José Manuel Ballester’s 2009 piece Palacio Real (“Royal Palace”), a Photoshopped version of Las Meninas “manages to intrigue the spectator. Ballester’s work portrays a room in semi-darkness, which receives light from an open door in the background, light thus taking stage center in this case.” In this series of Ballester’s work, a “void that may seem disquieting can be perceived…. The works are turned into a space for reflection and meditation, in which man appears implicitly through the architecture. The artist proposes, through these pieces, a tour of universal art history. Perhaps the fact that he is a painter has inspired him to ‘revisit’ these works and make us reflect on their complexity, which we often lose sight of when delving into their evident narrative.” (Arte Aldia)
Las meninas reborn in the night IV: peering at the secret scene behind the artist, by Morimura Yasumasa
(8) In Morimura Yasumasa’s 2013 series “Las meninas reborn in the night I-VIII,” he “has reworked the image, enhancing the mysteries and creating a possible narrative of appearance and disappearance. Morimura is also intrigued by the painter’s interest in those outside the mainstream of society as much as those who patronised him. Morimura was allowed to photograph at night in the Prado and, as is usual in his work, played ever figure. However, this is the first time Morimura has used an actual location rather than a recreation, and the first time he has appeared as himself looking at a work of art. The title ‘Las meninas reborn in the night’ plays on the notion that objects in a museum may come alive after the vistors have left.” (Art Gallery NSW)
Las Meninas by Simone Leigh
(9) Simone Leigh’s 2019 sculpture Las Meninas, located in the Cleveland Museum of Art, “draws on traditions throughout global art and culture to address issues surrounding the female body, race, beauty, and community. The work’s skirted form conjures figures from … Las Meninas (1656) by Diego Velazquez, apparel worn in the Afro-Brazilian religious tradition candomblé, and Mousgoum buildings in Cameroon. The white-glazed terracotta torso, alluding to sacred and secular traditions of body painting, leads to a faceless head, incorporating both figuration and abstraction.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: CORWIN LEVI
Corwin is a visual artist working in design, illustration, bookmaking, curating, and writing. As an artist, he has attended over twenty artist residencies. He has also have lived in eighteen cities across twelve states. Along with Michelle Aldredge, he co-created Mirror Mirrored: An Artists’ Edition of 25 Grimms’ Tales. He is currently remixing vintage game boards and making a book from illustrations of Alice in Wonderland.
Looking awesome theology of painting