Over the weekend, I went to the National Museum and got to see, for the first time, Juan Luna y Novicio’s (1857-1899) famous art piece, the Spoliarium. It was my 2nd time being in the other building, where one could find the ruins of the San Diego ship, but my first time coming to the building where the painting could be found.

It was the piece which Luna submitted to the Exposicion Nacional de Bellas Artes or the Madrid Exposition of Fine Arts in 1884 and had won him a gold medal (first of the three gold medals).

At 9.05 by 5.59 meters, the painting depicted the “social, moral and political life:humanity unredeemed, reason and aspiration in open fight with prejudice, fanaticism, and injustice,” according to our National Hero Dr. Jose Rizal.

The painting had undergone several restorations from damages and cuts (it was rolled in 3 pieces from being shipped to Manila) and from being passed on to different museums until it finally landing on the country’s National Museum.

Aside from the Spoliarium, the Blood Compact is also one masterpiece by Juan Luna.

*Sorry for the low photo quality as I left my digicam. A friend also told me that a spectator can readily notice the difference between the stroke of Juan Luna and another famous Filipino artist, Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo, who won silver in the same contest. Luna’s strokes were more intense and vigorous than that of Hidalgo, perhaps stemming from how the two were brought up from different walks of life. (Realllyyy? :P)

*Come visit the National Museum, no entrance fee on Sundays. :)