Las Meninas

Foucault's essay on 'Las Meninas' primarily deals with the representations of the multiple subjects of the painting, and characterizes the hierarchy of figures based on the lines of their gazes and on lines of perspective. He delves into the relationships between the representation of the painter (Velasquez himself), the absent (King and Queen), the Infanta, and the spectators (both the man in the background and us as viewers). While Foucault's observations and arguments are astute, I think he fails to raise an important point in discussing the painting. He really only discusses a story created by the painting itself that is essentially fiction; he fails to discuss the fact that this representation was actually painted in real life, from real models other than the King and the Queen. Foucault speaks extensively on the represented painting (or at least the back of it) but we are left with the question: What about the process of creating the actual painting in front of us by the actual man himself?

Foucault speaks of two intersecting lines coming from the mirror and from the eyes of the Infanta, and that the true subject of the painting is the point where these lines cross, outside of the canvas. He says that this point can be occupied by the King and Queen, reflected in the mirror, and by the absent spectator. However, when creating the real painting, this point would have been occupied by Velasquez. This leads me to believe that the true subject of the painting is the painter and his process.