TOK Art Worksheet – Las Meninas

1) The painter who is standing on the left side of the canvas is looking out of the painting as if

at us, but is he looking at us? Who else might he be looking at?

a. What is the significance of this, If any?

2) What do you imagine that the painter is painting? If you could see his painting what do you

think it would depict?

3) The man in the back of the painting, entering through the door, is he leaving or entering?

Why do you believe he in the painting at all? The painting is titled “Las Meninas”, “The

Maids,” but the man is not a maid. Why is he there?

4) Where does the light come from in the painting? Why might this matter?

5) There are two people in the middle ground on the right of the painting. They are faint

(hard to make out), why are they there?

6) In the foreground we La Infanta? She is the princess. Why is this standing the way that she

is? Why is she turned one way with her head turned another?

7) Why is the dog in the painting? What purpose does he serve?

8) In the back of the room, there is a mirror, whose face appears in it? Why?

9) On the back of this page, make your over version of the painting.