Various Reconstructions

Jose Oña Jurado: the bare Las Meninas 

   Velázquez's timeless masterpiece continues to be a source of inspiration for contemporary artists, so much so that we find many artworks in our collection that make explicit reference to it, re-proposing it in its entirety or in some of its parts. In this way, the Spanish painting is transformed into a new work of art, distinguished by a different painting technique, innovative use of color, perspective, arrangement of lights, and, sometimes, even by the choice of a different number of characters. These changes generate a new key to reading the masterpiece, which becomes a vehicle for propaganda messages different from the original ones.

   An example of such modifications is the pastel by Jose Oña Jurado, Mia observando a perro salomón de las meninas de Velázquez, where the two points of light, which in the original artwork gave depth to the space of the artist's studio, are absent. As a result, the chromaticism of this revisitation is flattened, that is, stripped of its previous chromatic details and softened by the soft colors of pastel. Moreover, the artwork has also been deprived of the characters, which in the original painting had the task of creating more visual planes and diagonals, aimed at drawing attention to different areas of the room in a balanced way. In addition, Oña Jurado's pastel also lacks the presence of the paintings that had adorned the walls of Velázquez's masterpiece.  The only form of life present in the space of the work is a dog, which, taking the place of the figure of José Nieto, observes a now empty room. In conclusion, Velázquez's painting, deprived of all those messages with which it had been loaded, now conveys a sense of emptiness, loneliness and waiting. In fact, it almost seems as if the dog is waiting for the advent of any form of life, which will arrive to break its boredom and isolation.

Cláudia Moreira: ironic Las Meninas

   We conclude this brief review of artworks that pay homage to Velázquez, with the irony of the oil painting made by Cláudia Moreira, which represents another interpretation of Velázquez's masterpiece. In this artwork, which is more sketchy and quicker to execute than the original, we speak of irony because the characters, who are depicted from behind, exclude the viewer from the pictorial tale. In this way, the Spanish masterpiece, which refuses to be looked at in its entirety, loses an important characteristic that had made it unique in its genre: the point of view. In fact, the painting is no longer seen from the perspective of all the characters portrayed, but only from that of the painter, who is intent on painting faces and bodies whose features we cannot know. In addition to the artist, there is another character who sympathetically turns his gaze to us and who this time is placed at the center of the work: the dog. With this last expedient, Cláudia Moreira reiterates the intent of her work: to make a masterpiece of all times sympathetic and ironic.

Antonio de Felipe

The painter, Antonio de Felipe, is the largest contemporary representative of Spanish Pop Art. 

   This piece of artwork was created as tribute to Velazquez Las Meninas. We can see the Infanta Margarita holding the hand of a, here in the United States, beloved disney character: Mickey Mouse. Mickey Mouse to many is a symbol of childhood and overall inocence. This and the combination of the good old Coca Cola background bring together the idea of modern America and Baroque art. This can been seen as a comment of the timelessness of the masterpiece that is Las Meninas as the character Infanta Margarita is used to send the message, or this could be seen as a comment on the change in social standards between different time periods and classes.

Raul Zuleta

   This reconsrtuction is, like the previous example, a more modern example of a tribute to Las Meninas. This example, however, takes more of a silly approach at communicating the great affectiveness of Las meninas. We can see in the image that the characters which would, in the original, have been inside the canvas on the wall. Instead, they are taking a break and have left the painting to allow for the maid to clean their room. While this may be a silly way of representing the idea, it is clear that this was created to show the transporting affects of the original painting. The reconstruction is attempting to say that the original Las Meninas is so affective that a person could believe that the room is actually another room which could beentered through the canvas. This tribute, as was inteneded, is incredibly affective in spreading the message of the ability of the painting to hypnotize its audience and make them believe that it is indeed real and not a painting.

Gérard Bertrand: the censored Las Meninas

   Gérard Bertrand's photomontage represents another interpretation of the seventeenth-century painting, where we do not find substantial changes regarding the chromatism, the decor, the arrangement of lights and, the number of characters depicted. What distinguishes Bertrand's interpretation is the use of censorship, in fact, the technique of photomontage is used to conceal the faces of the protagonists of the scene, which are covered with small paintings. Thus, Velázquez, the royals, the members of the court, and the dog, lose their identities and are no longer able to tell the story for which their existence was intended. The provocative censorship of works of art is a classic topical in the art-historical tradition, which has certainly distinguished past currents such as Dadaism. In fact, the latter was distinguished by questioning and distorting traditions, rejecting reason and logic, in order to emphasize extravagance, humor, mockery and, disgust of the customs of the past.

Vietanm Vogue Cover

   Rather than commenting so much on the affectiveness of Las meninas, this cover for Vogue magazine in Vietnam uses the status of the painting to represent their own social status and standards. because Las Meninas shows the beautiy standards and what was regular in Spain at the time, it was only fitting to recreate if with the same standards from Vietnam to reenforce the status of the family on the cover. This reconstruction could also be, instead, viewed as a comment on the differing standards held in different countries. While blond hair and blue eyes may be what is bautiful in Spain, Dark hair, brown eyes and extremely light skin could be what is held high in Vietnam. Either way, the reconstruction was used as a form of a tribute to the affectiveness of the originlal painting by complimenting its incredible ability to share a message.

This recreation of the room in which Las meninas was painted allows a different perspective than one that an audience member would typically get. Unlike the other reconstuctions thus far, the purpoe of this one is simply to visualize and theorize the angles of the original painting. Based on math and logic, we can use this as a tool to beter understand the purpose of the painting and the way in which it was painted.

While this model is illistrated from the same direction as the direction that a typical viewer would get, the reconstruction here creates a zoomed out perspective of a person standing in the room that Las Meninas was painted. This, very much like the previous image, could help a person to theorize the way in which the painting was done, and the reason or message it was created for. However, unlike the first computer generated model, this on was created for the purposes of a Virtual reality experience. A participant would then be able to see this image as if they were standing in the room itself, allowing for a better understanding of the perspective of Las Meninas and even a better way to help educate new audience members on the details of the painting.