> In December, I spent most of two days studying “Las Meninas” during a visit to Madrid, when I believed that my end was near. I had set myself the task of igno

> In December, I spent most of two days studying “Las Meninas” during a visit to Madrid, when I believed that my end was near. I had set myself the task of ignoring all received theories about this voluminously analyzed masterpiece and, on the spot, figuring out its maddening ambiguities...Presuming to grasp the whole is like hazarding a unified theory of relativity and quantum physics. At the risk of coming off as reductionist, I've never understood how the work of a single human being can be elevated and studied on this level. One could study the masterful techniques of craftsmanship, one could study the artist as a person, one could study the cultural context surrounding the work. One could even meditate on it and create one's own experiences that go above and beyond the artist's intentions. This last, at least, could be called "boundless" in some sense. But there is not an entire universe to be discovered in a painting (or a book, or a symphony). There is no hidden truth underlying it all, just waiting to be found through analysis, whose scope escapes the bounds of the human context in which it was made. I sometimes wonder what a classical novelist would think of being told that entire academic careers have been made out of nothing but studying his or her works. I like to think most of them would be appalled that people are doing that instead of creating works of their own.