Félix de la Concha

To complement the Baroque paintings in Splendor and Passion, the Museum invited the contemporary Spanish artist Felix de la Concha to respond with an installation of his meticulous copy of Velázquez’s famous painting Las Meninas (1656) that hangs in the Prado Museum in Madrid. This work of art, Las meninas from an artificial light, is painted in oil on 140 papers of 9 x 12 inches. The fragments all together reconstruct the real size of the Velázquez masterpiece, which measures 125 x 108 inches. It has been reproduced with the patient task of a copyist, but instead of doing it in front of the painting at the Prado, De La Concha painted it entirely from a high-resolution reproduction available on the internet.

Felix de la Concha’s work will also be featured in a special installation commissioned by the Museum to commemorate Boca Raton’s 100th anniversary. The artist wasted no time in choosing his subject – the important crossroads of Dixie Highway, the Flagler railroad, and Camino Real with Addison Mizner’s administrative building (The Addison) as the centerpiece. This historic location was painted en plein aire over several months using the traditional technique of oil on canvas. The result is a triptych (44 ½ x 94 ½ inches) notable for its detailed depiction within a complex perspective while capturing the passage of time.

The Felix de la Concha triptych was a made a gift to the Museum collection by Jody H. and Martin Grass.