Abstract:
The author considers the painting "Las Meninas" by Diego Velázquez, which was painted in 1656, and how it has been interpreted outside of the oeuvre of Velázquez's other paintings. Philosopher and historian Michel Foucault in his book "The Order of Things" offers his interpretation of the painting and the author also looks at the research of John Searle, Joel Snyder, and Ted Cohen, all of whom adopted an "oeuvre-independent" method of analyzing the painting. The author provides a visual description of the painting, including the figures in the painting, the meta-paintings on the wall, and the direction of the gaze of the figures. Other topics include the phenomenological aspects of Foucault's interpretation of the painting and Foucault's thesis of his book.