When visiting art museums we enter to view images not to have images view us back. We accept the new ideas of a culture and analyze the choices an artists makes when creating an image. Artist Diego Velázquez challenges this idea in his painting Las Meninas. We are met with the gaze of the artist himself. It is unusual for this to occur in a work of art especially one created for the royal Spanish family. Velázquez uses lighting and body positions to make the viewer question parts of the piece and give an inside look of how Velázquez works to create meaning and unity. We’re taken into a private moment of a royal family and met with the eye contact of awareness to our presence. Through the distinctive use of the artist himself, his gaze and the lighting, Velázquez is able to challenge typical pieces of artwork and how they are observed. 

The artist makes the obvious choice to include himself next to the canvas and not behind it. He is easily distinguished among the other characters in the painting. He is shown holding a paintbrush over the canvas, either starting or finishing his work. The positioning and placement of the artist is important in understanding the purpose of the painting. It is not a defined self-portrait, but rather an art piece that the artist includes himself in. One step to the artists left would cause him to be obscured by the oversized canvas yet we are aware that in his current visible position he is unable to work on the painting. The viewer has to question if he is taking a step back and observing his work or purposely placing himself in the scene for possible credit purposes. In doing this he takes direct ownership of the work. Many artists just quickly sign the bottom of their paintings instead Velázquez places himself inside the piece personally. It is a very bold move on his part. Similarly, we are allowed into an almost intimate setting of a painter and his subjects. Painters often do their best work in privacy and without distraction. Here, his focus is interrupted by us the viewer and possibly the person leaving through the door in the background. We are brought into the private setting. We, like the other person, should likely be leaving the scene to allow the artist to continue his work. 

Our gaze is brought into the center of the piece because Velázquez paints the young girl in a different contrast than the others in subject. We can assume she has a significant role in the paintings context. She is portrayed in a light dress facing towards the viewer. Her hair is also a lighter than those around her. We are also able to see the light from an opening door in the background. It is interesting that this is included in the piece as it almost acts like an interruption. Gaze is important in leading the eyesight of the viewer in. We make eye contact with Velázquez, the person in the doorway, and two of the girls featured. Looking into Velázquez’s line of sight the large canvas is very apparent. Yet there is a mystery of what is being painted. The viewer actually has no idea what he is currently painting or painted. Is it the scene we currently see or something else entirely? We are aware however that the gaze of the artist is not on us but rather through us. It is almost an overpassing, lack of interest in us as if we interrupt his line of sight. Some artists choose to have the subjects staring back at the viewer; Velázquez instead places their gaze unfocused back at us. There is a different exchange in the observed and the observer. There are two sources of light in the painting, the open door in the background as well as a light source in the foreground where the viewer is standing. The light on the girl brings our gaze directly to her and what she is focused on. The light moves from the right side of the painting to the left. The line of lighting also touches the left side of the artists face as he looks back towards us. An interesting feature placed in the painting is the stream of light highlighting one of the many paintings on the wall in the background. The painting the viewer sees directly was created during the Spanish Golden Age, the peak of the Spanish culture, Velázquez features the King and the Queen, the young girls father and mother, King Philip IV of Spain and Mariana of Austria. It has been argued that it is a mirror on the wall reflecting the painting the artist is currently creating on the massive canvas. It is clear that the royal family paid for the painting in patronage to Velázquez. Mainly, that it is Velázquez’s purpose is to respect and please the royal family. 

Velázquez shows the relationship of absence and presence in his work of Las Meninas. He doesn’t include the actual piece he is painting. We are hidden from seeing what he is painting on the large canvas set to the left. He shows himself in front of it, staring back at us as if her knows we want to know the secret in front of him. He includes the members of the royal family under a great presence of light to signify their importance. The purpose of the painting is to embody the royal family as well as possible all while the artist gives himself direct credit. Meeting eye contact with him, we are included into the piece and feel the presence more effectively. 
