A VISIT TO THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE PHILIPPINES
IA #4
The National Museum of the Philippines was the former Legislative Building, designed in the 1920s. The building itself is an art, from the columns, staircase, interiors, lobby to the artworks inside the museum. Inserted around my entry are some of the pictures I took inside the museum.
I’ve been to many museums namely Metropolitan Museum, Museo Pambata, Museo ni Jose Rizal, Marcos Museum, and National Museum of the Philippines, and since then I already like visiting museums because its like reading a fictional book but museum visits is visually way of imagining the events and feelings of the artists through their artworks. It also helps me relieve the stress that academic life gives me, since museums are usually quiet. I’ve always been fascinated about discovering artworks from the great artists back then and until now, some of them are Vicente Manansala, Ben Cab, Fernando Amorsolo, and no other than Juan Luna. These artists used different mediums, also different experiences in order to produce those amazing artworks. Through visiting museums, I somehow go back to when and where those artworks were made and also got a chance to visualize a little bit of what happened back then in our country, like the suffering of our fellow countrymen in order to achieve our freedom against the colonizers, our country’s victories, the life of Filipinos back then and many more. The artwork below the Spoliarium, an oil-on-canvas painting by Juan Luna, according to the museum’s website it features a glimpse of Roman History centered on the bloody carnage brought by gladiatorial matches. This are just one of the great and amazing artworks in the National Museum of the Philippines, there are still lots of artworks that will make you say “Woaaah!”, “Ang ganda!”, and “Pak!”.
THE EIGHT CHOSEN ARTWORKS
This artwork caught my attention because it is a painting for the daughter of Emilio Aguilar Cruz, I found it sweet. Actually there is an attached caption beside the artwork stating:
“ I was a teenager and listening to music in his library in Philam. In the scene I was playing with my hair. I was not asked to pose. In fact, I was surprised when I finally got up and saw his finished painting. I hated it then as it was such an unflattering pose. Above me was antique lamp that was fitted with an electric bulb.” -Therese Cruz, daughter of E. Aguilar Cruz.
It depicts the bayanihan value of Filipinos, through how they cooperated in carrying the nipa hut we will already know that this value is so evident in Filipinos until now.
These three artworks, obviously, are about Christianity. I admire artworks that are about religions because it shows how art is able to define a religion visually.
I love how the artist made use of different materials in order to make this beautiful artwork. Because usually some artists only use one medium for him to make an artwork. If you carefully look at the artwork you’ll notice that there is a palaspas, real pants, shirt, banig, and cloths.
I chose this because as you can see there is a family in front of their dining table praying together, today some families seldom pray before eating rather they take pictures of the food for their social medias. It shows how simple their life was back then when technology isn’t that necessary in their lives.
This artwork represents the OFWs who are working abroad in order to make money and support their families. It is a sad reality that Filipinos are forced by themselves to work abroad because of the lack of employment opportunities in our country. The face of the woman says a lot of how OFWs feel whenever they leave their family without assurance that this OFWs will come back safe and fulfilled from where they have been.
FIN
