Nicole K. answered • 04/23/25
Business Skills in the Arts, Art & Film History, Presentation Skills
This is a compelling painting in the way it mirrors so many things we are still doing today. In many ways, it functions like a modern-day social media post; curated, performative, and layered with meaning. The video linked here mentions the ideal, real, and reflected worlds explored in this painting. These are important ideas for understanding this painting, however, I think it's pertinent to consider how we might form a relationship with this painting, and these ideas today.
First, the ideal world, represented in this painting by the posed composition and healthy appearance of Princess Margarita Teresa mirrors how we often present an idealized version of ourselves online. It is what we aspire and hope for, not necessarily the reality of how things actually are. On the other hand, the real world, seen in the natural gestures of the attendants and blurred sense of action, captures those unscripted, candid moments we might find in our personal photo album, not curated and more similar to our lived experience. Lastly, the reflected world is symbolized by the mirror showing the king and the queen. This suggests the viewer's place within in the image, much like how a social media post invites surveillance from others, feedback, and likes.
Velázquez, appearing within the painting as the artist at work, shows him as both orchestrating the scene and inserting himself into it. This is much like a modern-day content creator who controls the narrative while remaining part of it. His presence in the painting subtly assets authorship and authority. There is something very human about the need to be seen and remembered for what we've done, where we've been, and what we've accomplished.
