Treasures in Iloilo

Iloilo is one of my favorite cities. Last year it was declared by Unesco as a “Creative City of Gastronomy.” And that is not just for their iconic batchoy or sugar-laced goodies from the Panaderia de Molo. Iloilo also boasts of the National Museum branch in Iloilo, Museum of Philippine Economic History, Museum of Philippine Maritime History, Iloilo Museum of Contemporary Art, and Musée d’Arsie. Those who prefer built heritage have the Spanish-era churches of Molo, Jaro, Santa Barbara, Miagao, and San Joaquin, plus all the mansions built from sugar, the 19th-century cash crop. Projecting growth in the economy and population, they built a 10-lane boulevard that puts traffic-choked Edsa to shame. They have a walkable 10-kilometer esplanade along the Iloilo River that connects Iloilo City, La Paz, Lapuz, Mandurriao, and Molo.

One of the beautifully preserved structures in town is the former Iloilo City Hall designed in the neoclassical style by Juan Arellano and ornamented with art deco sculptures by Francesco Riccardo Monti. Inaugurated in 1935, it was occupied by the enemy during World War II. Postwar mayor Fernando Lopez turned the building over to the University of the Philippines for a junior college and it is today the main building of the UP Visayas. What began as the hall of justice, became the library of the UP junior college. After renovation in 2017, and funded through the initiative of former senator Franklin Drilon and then Antique representative Loren Legarda, it has become a museum space now occupied by a landmark loan from the Lopez Museum and Library of paintings by Juan Luna, Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo, Fernando Amorsolo, and Juan Arellano.

Not only has the Lopez Museum come full circle by loaning works to the place where the Lopez family traces its roots, but it also loaned paintings by the architect of the building where they are displayed. Museum director Mercedes Lopez-Vargas said at the opening:

“Bringing these masterpieces to Iloilo was an opportunity to honor our roots that we cannot let pass. It is in Iloilo that our family’s journey of hard work, philanthropy, and service to others began. It just made perfect sense to keep coming back and giving back in uplifting the very community that had also shaped our personal history.”

The paintings of Luna and Resurreccion Hidalgo are like old friends. These works shaped my own history from the time I first saw them in the 1980s as an undergraduate student addicted to the Lopez Museum in its original location in Pasay. I followed the paintings books when the museum moved to its second home in the BenPres building in Ortigas, and now wait for it to open soon, closer to home in Rockwell, Makati. These paintings taught me how to see. They gave me the eye that spots dubious paintings from authentic ones. It is like being served two unmarked glasses of cola. If you are accustomed to Coke, you can tell the difference, by taste, from lookalikes like Pepsi, RC, or Sarsi. You can even tell the difference between a regular or diet soda. In the 1980s, the Lopez Museum had the largest study collection of works by Luna and Resurreccion Hidalgo. The authentic Luna paintings told the story of the painter’s tragic life, as well as the workings of his artistic output.

The most famous of the four Luna paintings on exhibit is “Ensueños de Amor” or “Dreams of Love,” a title we owe to the gentleman scholar Alfonso T. Ongpin. This is different from another painting by Luna with the same title reproduced in a 19th-century Spanish magazine. The one on display in Iloilo is said to be Paz Pardo de Tavera, the ill-fated wife of Luna. If we are to believe the dating of the painting, it was said to have been painted during the couple’s honeymoon in Venice. This suggestive, sensual (some would say erotic) image of the wife asleep has launched a thousand interpretations. Not many people know that the second painting is hidden on the back of “Ensueños.” A Roman maiden that was either a study of a figure from Luna’s “Hymen, oh Hyménée!” or “Roman Wedding” circa 1886-1887 or “España y Filipinas” circa 1890.

“Fantasia” is a small painting of a woman by an orange lamp that some viewers presume is Luna’s experiment in impressionism. Luna was a classical painter to the end; he was contemptuous of impressionist painting. “Street Flower Vendor” is just that a typical Parisian scene except that the wreaths date the work to Victor Hugo’s funeral in 1885. An unfinished painting of a woman on a ladder picking fruit off a tree is my all-time favorite because by studying it, you can see how Luna painted: what he started, what was left for last, mixing of colors, brush strokes, etc.

Curated by Dr. Patrick Flores, the show “Patrimony of All” will run in Iloilo till April 2025. I hope people will make the time to see both the building that is a jewel box for these treasures that have taught me a lot. Art inspires new ways of seeing and new ways of thinking.

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