EXERCISE #1

Let’s visit online museums!

1. Visit an online museum, one local museum and one foreign museum. You may
choose from the following virtual museums:

Local:
https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/#page=page-1
https://www.ayalamuseum.org
https://ateneoartgallery.com/

Foreign:
https://www.metmuseum.org/
https://www.moma.org/

2. Research one foreign and one local artist. Write their biography and list at
least three of their artworks.
3. Paste the picture of the artists and the artworks that they have created.
4. Explain their paintings by answering the questions below.
 LOCAL ARTIST
Name: Fernando C. Amorsolo
Birthdate: May 30, 1892
Birth place: Paco District, Manila City
Artwork: 1. The Maid of Bataan
2. Dalagang Bukid
3. Planting Rice

Fernando Amorsolo was a portraitist and painter of rural landscapes. At 13 he was apprenticed to the
noted Philippine artist Fabian de la Rosa . In 1909 Amorsolo enrolled at the Liceo de Manila and then
attended the fine-arts school at the University of the Philippines, graduating in 1914. After working three
years as a commercial artist and part-time instructor at the university, he studied at the Escuela de San
Fernando in Madrid. For seven months he sketched at the museums and on the streets of Madrid,
experimenting with the use of light and color. That winter he
went to New York and discovered the works of the postwar
impressionists and cubists, who became the major influence on
his works. On his return to Manila, he set up his own studio.
During this period, Amorsolo developed the use of light—
actually, backlight—which is his greatest contribution to
Philippine painting. Characteristically, an Amorsolo painting
contains a glow against which the figures are outlined, and at
one point of the canvas there is generally a burst of light that
highlights the smallest detail.
Amorsolo was noted for his portraits. He made oils of all the
Philippine presidents, including the revolutionary leader
Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, and other noted Philippine figures.
Fernando Amorsolo passed away in 1972. Some of his best
works include, ‘One Casualty’, ‘Corner of
Hell’ and ‘Bataan’ among many others.
ARTWORK # 1

MAIDEN OF BATAAN (1942)

Dimension: 34.5 x 25.25in (87.6 x 64.1cm)

Content:
It compares the misery of war with
hell. The maiden, depicted with a delicate aura,
symbolic of resilience and represents the power
of good over evil. The red, hot inferno in the
background flows amidst the dark unknown
abyss. The wounded martyr in the ground pays
homage to the deaths and symbolizes courage
and supreme self-sacrifice.

ARTWORK # 2

DALAGANG BUKID (1936)

Dimension: 85 x 59.5cm (33.5 x 23.4 in)

Content:
Dalagang Bukid is a muse of ideal
Filipina beauty foregoing the Maria Clara-
typed wallflower who presents herself as a
smiling and cheerful lady, in spite of the labor
beckoned in the agricultural plain. She is
depicted sporting in the national costume of the
baro’t saya with her hair firmly held by flowing
bandana to shield her, from the brightness of
the afternoon sun.
ARTWORK # 3
PLANTING RICE (1922)

Dimension: 24¼ x 34in (62 x 86.5cm)

Content:
It is characterized by scenes of the Filipino countryside, harmoniously
composed and richly colored, saturated with bright sunlight and populated by
beautiful, happy people: it is an art of beauty, contentment, peace and plenty. It also
have two fundamental ideas in his art: first, a classical notion of idealism, in which
artistic truth was found through harmony, balance and beauty, and second a
conservative concept of Filipino national character as rooted in rural communities and
the cycles of village life. 
 FOREIGN ARTIST
Name: Claude Monet
Birthdate: November 14, 1840
Birth place: Paris
Artwork: 1. Rouen Cathedral: The Facade at Sunset
2. Woman in the Garden
3. The Rue Montorgueil

Claude Monet was a founder of French Impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific
practitioner of the movement’s philosophy of
expressing one’s perceptions before nature, especially
as applied to plein-air landscape painting.

His father wanted him to go into the family grocery

store business but Claude wanted to become an artist.
On April 1, 1851, Monet entered the Le Havre
secondary school of the arts. He first became known
locally for his charcoal caricatures, which he would sell
for 10-20 francs. Monet also undertook his first drawing
lessons from Jacques-Francois Ochard. On the beaches
of Normandy in about 1856/1857, he met fellow artist
Eugene Boudin who became his mentor and taught him
“en plein air” (outdoor) techniques for painting.

Most art historians believe that Monet accomplished

much more than this: He helped change the world of
painting by shaking off the conventions of the past. By
dissolving forms in his works, Monet opened the door
for further abstraction in art, and he is credited with
influencing such later artists as Jackson Pollack, Mark
Rothko and Willem de Kooning.
ARTWORK # 1
ROUEN CATHEDRAL: THE FACADE AT SUNSET
(1894)

Dimension: 100 x 65cm (39.3 x 25.5in)

Content:
The cathedral was painted at different times
of day to explore the effects of different light
during winter. The burnt orange and blue
appearance of the Cathedral dominates the canvas,
with only scattered views of sky at the top.
Layered over the top of the Gothic structure, the
brushstrokes play with the light and atmosphere
on the stones, and the details on their carved
surfaces.

ARTWORK # 2

WOMEN IN THE GARDEN (1866-67)

Dimension: 100 x 81 inches

Content:
It was meticulously composed to render the
effects of true outdoor light, rather than regard
conventions of modeling. From the flickers of
sunlight that pierce the foliage of the trees to
delicate shadows and the warm flesh tones that
can be seen through the model’s sleeve, Monet
details the behavior of natural light in the scene.
 ARTWORK # 3
THE RUE MONTORGUEIL (1878)

Dimension: 810 x 500mm

Content:
If one were to look at the way the flag
themselves are painted, they look quite blurry
and unclear. But when the viewer looks down at
crowd, the flag seems to wave in peripheral
vision. Monet’s impressionist style skillfully
captured the movement of the joyful crowd and
the rippling of the flags in the wind. It also
embody hid belief in the Republic and in
democracy.