The Painter's Puzzle

Velázquez built Las Meninas as a visual riddle about the act of seeing. The painter stands at a huge canvas, but its face is turned away — we never learn what he's painting. The princess and her attendants gaze outward, toward us.

That setup pulls the viewer into the scene whether they like it or not. Standing in the spot the king and queen seem to occupy, every person who looks is at once watching and being watched. The painting's gaze goes both ways, a back-and-forth between artwork and viewer that was new in Western art.