Las Meninas (Velazquez) 1957

Picasso painted this version of Las Meninas with oil on canvas, we don't know exactly when but he was born in 1881 and died in 1973. Just look at the way Picasso fractures the space, each plane tilting and shifting like a deck of cards. The browns, greys and ochres create a feeling of earthy density, while the slashes of bright yellow, red and blue jolt you awake. Zoom in on the Infanta Margarita, she's in that yellow dress, her face a simple mask of geometric forms. It's like Picasso is stripping away the surface to reveal the raw structure underneath. His Meninas reminds me of another Spaniard, Goya, who also wasn't afraid to push the boundaries of representation. But where Goya used darkness and satire, Picasso uses geometry and color to question how we see, how we understand, and how we make art. It's not just a painting, it's a conversation.