History

Works of Luna and

Amorsolo
Paintings
Luna’s Background
Born in the town of Badoc, Ilocos Norte in the northern
Philippines, Juan N. Luna was the third among the seven children
of Joaquín Posadas Luna and Laureana Ancheta Novicio-Luna. In
1861, the Luna family moved to Manila and he went to Ateneo
Municipal de Manila where he obtained his Bachelor of Arts
degree. He excelled in painting and drawing, and was influenced
by his brother, Manuel N. Luna, who, according to Filipino
patriot José Rizal, was a better painter than Juan himself.
Luna enrolled at Escuela Nautica de Manila (now Philippine
Merchant Marine Academy) and became a sailor. He took
drawing lessons under the illustrious painting teacher Lorenzo
Guerrero of Ermita, Manila. He also enrolled in the Academy of
Fine Arts (Academia de Dibujo y Pintura) in Manila where he
was influenced and taught how to draw by the Spanish artist
Agustin Saez. However, Luna's vigorous brush strokes displeased
his teacher and Luna was discharged from the academy. However,
Guerrero was impressed by his skill and urged Luna to travel to
Cubao to further pursue his work.
In 1883 Luna started the painting demanded of him by the
Ayuntamiento. In May 1884, he shipped the large canvas of the
Spoliarium to Madrid for the year's Exposición Nacional de
Bellas Artes. He was the first recipient of the three gold medals
awarded in the exhibition and Luna gained recognition among the
connoisseurs and art critics present. On June 25, 1884, Filipino
and Spanish nobles organized an event celebrating Luna's win in
the exhibition. That evening, Rizal prepared a speech for his
friend, addressing the two significant things of his art work,
which included the glorification of genius and the grandeur of his
artistic skills.
Luna’s Paintings
Amorsolo’s Background
Amorsolo was born on May 30, 1892, in Paco, Manila. Don Fabián
de la Rosa, his mother's cousin, was also a Filipino painter. At the age
of 13, Amorsolo became an apprentice to De la Rosa, who would
eventually become the advocate and guide to Amorsolo's painting
career. During this time, Amorsolo's mother embroidered to earn
money, while Amorsolo helped by selling water color postcards to a
local bookstore for 10 centavos each. His brother, Pablo Amorsolo,
was also a painter. Between 1909 and 1914, he enrolled at the Art
School of the Liceo de Manila.
After graduating from the University of the Philippines,
Works, as a chief artist at the Pacific CommercialAmorsolo
worked as a draftsman for the Bureau of Public Company, and as
a part-time instructor at the University of the Philippines (where
he would work for 38 years). After three years as an instructor
and commercial artist, Amorsolo was given a grant to study at the
Academia de San Fernando in Madrid, Spain by Filipino
businessman Enrique Zóbel de Ayala. During his seven months in
Spain, Amorsolo sketched at museums and along the streets of
Madrid, experimenting with the use of light and color. Through
the Zóbel grant, Amorsolo was also able to visit New York City,
where he encountered postwar impressionism and cubism, which
would be major influences on his work.
Amorsolo’s Paintings

Planting Rice Fruit Gatherer

Historical Background
A painter creating his composition is required to perceive deeply
enough this visual representation of reality, in order to create a
recognizable approximation of it on a painting work. Every painter has
their own story behind their creations since it usually reflects on what
they see and what they feel. Painting is seeing something through
another's eyes, it is a visual creation by a select gifted person just like
Juan Luna and Fernando Amorsolo. In the history of painting, Luna and
Amorsolo were two of the great Filipino painters whose works were
remarkable and had contributed to the field of art.
Juan Luna is considered as one of the best painter in this
country. He was very educated and was able to go to other
countries to pursue his studies. Luna’s inspiration made him make
and produce artworks that gave a glimpse about history. Luna's
paintings are generally described as being vigorous and dramatic
since it incorporated the elements of Romanticism. Almost all of
Luna’s artworks portray about the unforgettable events that
happened during his time or during the war that were remarkable.
Examples of his works are “Spoliarium”, one of Luna’s famous
painting and “Tampuhan”.
Fernando Amorsolo is one such star since he was the first Filipino
who became the Philippine’s National Artist in Painting. Amorsolo is
best known for his illuminated landscapes, which often portrayed
traditional Filipino customs, culture, fiestas and occupations. In a
typical Amorsolo painting, figures are outlined against a
characteristic glow, and intense light on one part of the canvas
highlights nearby details. Philippine sunlight was a constant feature
of Amorsolo's work; he is believed to have painted only one rainy-
day scene. All of Amorsolo’s paintings are inspired by “good vibe” in
the country and some portrays how beautiful nature is and the people
that surrounds it. Amorsolo had the impressionistic tendencies
focused in his artworks.
Analysis
The works of Fernando Amorsolo and Juan Luna are quite

similar in some areas like the historical subjects but they differ in
other aspect of painting. Fernando Amorsolo’s paintings focus on
the Filipino lives and experiences and the theme of the painting
depends of the time or events happen while Juan Luna’s work
focuses on what he can depict on the surroundings of Paris since
most of his paintings were made in Paris.
The paintings of Fernando Amorsolo are more on showing the
culture and tradition of the Philippines like “Bayanihan” and
some paintings of Amorsolo are portraying the livelihood and the
everyday lives of Filipinos in the farm. Most of his paintings have
peaceful and pastoral scenes. During World War II most of his
paintings depict war between Philippines and Japan, one example
of this is Defense of a Filipina Woman’s Honor. He also painted
Pre-Colonial and Spanish Colonial events like the painting
“Making of the Philippine Flag” and the “First Baptism in the
Philippines”. Overall Fernando Amorsolo’s paintings portray the
Filipinos historical events from Pre-Colonial era down to the
World War II.
On the other hand Juan Luna has a different portrayal of his
paintings some of it are historical subject but when he went to
Paris he began to depict what he can observed in the streets and
paint it like the famous painting “The Parishian Life”, where in
the painting you can see a woman sitting on a café’s sofa and the
woman is said to be a prostitute. Aside from he paints what he
observed in street he paint “Spolarium” which it depicts a fallen
or dying gladiators that are being dumped and devoid of worldly
possession. He also paint about the Spanish Colonization and the
slavery of Spanish to Filipino people. Most of his paintings were
made in Paris that is why most of them are portrayal of women,
maybe because there are a lot of beautiful girls in Paris in Juan
Luna’s times.
Contribution and Relevance
Luna and Amorsolo’s paintings are part of our life

because some of the paintings represents the lifestyle of our
ancestors, their beliefs and cultures as they pass it
generations by generations. Philippines was known as one of
the greatest showmanship through the field of arts, for each
painting interprets on what happened on that particular time.
The paintings made by Luna and Amorsolo are just like the books
in which you have to read to understand the context, and by simply
looking at it shows different kinds of feelings to our hearts, it is
painted with romanticism, impressionism, landscapes, farming and
about family. It shows us what do our ancestors do , it shows that
there are beautiful sites and places in our country.
All in all they remain alive to the Filipino hearts for they left a
legacy that will not get perish not just in the field of arts and culture
but also for being a brave hero. It gave a big contribution for us to be
able to know the history of our heroes and our people through the
paintings made by Luna and Amorsolo.
Relevance in the Modern Time
It is known not only here in the Philippines but across the world the
great influence of this two artist. Juan Luna and Fernando Amorsolo are
known for their contributions in the world of painting. Juan Luna is
considered as one of the finest painter this country has ever produced and
also Fernando Amorsolo who was a portraist and painter of rural
landscapes. Both are best known for their great skills in craftsmanship and
mastery in the field of painting. Paintings produced by these two artists
were displayed in museums in which today’s generation can benefit.
Juan Luna’s paintings are focused on the vigorous and
dramatic happenings in our history which maybe made because of
his own experience or what he observed. By those artworks made
by Luna, if people from the modern time can have a glance and
observe those artworks, it can give a little hint or overview about
the past. The person watching the painting may conclude or feel
how hard their situation was a long time ago. Through these
paintings, people can create stories in their own minds and can be
beneficial to educate others about our history. Since Luna’s
paintings are more on the intense historical events, it can be
relevant or connected to some of the events that happened in the
modern time in a way where sufferings of Filipinos are still
observed.
On the other hand, unlike Luna’s dramatic paintings, Fernando
Amorsolo’s paintings are more on peaceful and natural scene. His
paintings are more focused on the good side or positive
happenings of the past and how he adored nature. It can be
inferred from the paintings of Amorsolo that our history is not
just about hardships and sufferings but also about the positivity of
the Filipinos. The paintings show how simple and contented
Filipinos were in their living. His works were "an imagined sense
of nationhood in counterpoint to American colonial rule" and
were important to the formation of Filipino national identity.
Despite the differences on the theme of their paintings, both are
giving relevance in the modern time.
END 

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Works of Luna and

Planting Rice Fruit Gatherer

The works of Fernando Amorsolo and Juan Luna are quite

Luna and Amorsolo’s paintings are part of our life

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