Las Meninas is widely regarded as the western world’s greatest painting. Interpreted, copied, studied and discussed for centuries, Diego de Velázquez’s masterpiece, once rejected by his contemporaries as an unfinished plethora of smudges, is now considered to be the finest of the classical and the first of the modern paintings; breaking away from many of the artistic conventions of its time.

In July of 2004 I produced and co-presented a lecture on Las Meninas, by my good friend Sigmund Wenger, a then 93-year old gallerist and art researcher. Even though a contemporary art dealer by trade, Wenger had developed a fascination with Velazquez and Las Meninas and had conducted many years of research on the subject. I thought it would be a waste if his insights were not shared with the San Antonio public.

The lecture was held in the auditorium of the UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico) in San Antonio, as part of 2004 Contemporary Art Month.