Diego E.

Padilla

WFR3

2016-01424

Last weekend, my blockmates invited me to go with them to visit the national

museum. At first, I saw this as an opportunity to get my requirements done and over
with. However, soon after visiting most of the various exhibits inside, my visit to the
national museum had become much more than fulfilling a requirement. It had become a
way for me to appreciate and admire the many artworks our national artists had made
over the course of this countrys history.
On the way to the museum, I was very apprehensive. This was due to me being
a first time visitor to the national museum. I did not know if I would be able to fully
appreciate the visit to the museum since this was also my first time to visit an art
museum. However, once I had entered the museum, all my apprehensions were
cleared. When I entered the museum, the first thing I saw was the Spolarium by Juan
Luna. I was completely taken aback by the sheer size of the painting but, before I could
fully appreciate the titanic artwork, my blockmates decided that we should visit the other
exhibits first since the Spolarium will be the finale of our tour. We moved on to the other
exhibits. The first exhibits were filled with Spanish-era artworks. From the various
artworks displayed, I noticed that there was a common theme of religion among the
paintings. It was here where I began to see and understand how the environment in
which the artist was raised affected his style of painting. As we moved on, it also
seemed that we were going through the Philippines whole history because we noticed

that the paintings had suddenly gotten an element of revolution. The paintings became
more and more fierce. From this, I was able to infer that as time went on, Filipinos
became more nationalistic up to the point they wanted to be an independent country.
After the Spanish era artworks, we moved on to the American era artworks. It was here
where I noticed a sudden shift in culture. Their artworks began to exhibit a more vibrant
tone. I was able to infer that the people of that time suffered less and experienced a bit
more freedom than when they were under Spanish rule. It was also here that I was able
to really appreciate and admire the great artworks made for the government back then.
In my opinion, the paintings exhibited a lot less impact here compared to the Spanish
era paintings since things were most likely calmer and there was peace and order being
enforced during this time. After the American period came the World War 2 period. It
was here that the artworks took on a more grim and dark tone. There were various
artworks of aristocracies committed by the Japanese during the war. As I was going
through this part of the exhibit, it made me feel uncomfortable due to how explicit and
morbid some of the artworks can be. Next, we moved on to the modern period where I
became more familiar with the art. It was here where I saw various colorful paintings
showed to me back then by my art teacher. Although, some of the artworks were kind of
messy, I felt that they had some kind of hidden meaning behind and I probably couldnt
figure out what it was due to me not being much of an artist. The modern era paintings
also felt more progressive compared to the other eras. After we had finished viewing the
various artworks, we proceeded to the grand finale of our tour, the Spolarium room. It
was in that center room of the museum where they kept that enormous painting painted
by one of greatest national artist, Juan Luna. At first, I just kept staring at it due to me

constantly wondering how Juan Luna even got started on the painting. Afterwards, I
began to look at the picture Juan Luna had painted on the big canvas. I was in
completely awe of its size and the picture painted on it. After taking a few more pictures
and checking out the old senate building, it was finally time to leave.
After leaving the national museum, I felt that really glad that I decided to do this
assignment since it was a really great and unique experience. Exploring and touring
through the museum really felt like I was going through the various stages in our
countrys history. It was as if each artwork was telling a part of a big story. Exploring the
national museum was truly an experience I will not forget for a very long time.