Silver Lining in the Clouds (Erudite Series #2)

Kapitulo 23

"It's a good thing we're early,"

River held my hand as we got into the National Museum of Fine Arts. We'll go to the History one later since we know how much people wait for the Fine Arts one.

"I know, didn't realize there'd be this many people in the afternoon." Ani River habang papalapit kami sa napakalaking painting na unang makikita pagpasok.

"This is huge. I thought it'd be... as big as Amorsolo's paintings." I said while examining the texture of the painting. There were lines, indicating this painting had been folded already.

"I wonder why there are lines," si River habang pinagmamasdan niya ang kabuuan ng larawan. 

"This won in the Madrid Exposition of Fine Arts,"

"Yeah, learned that in..."

"History," pagpapatuloy ko ng sinasabi niya.

It was the only class we had together ever. We both remembered. The worth of this painting to the Philippines is immense. I understood why. Besides the awards it received, it's timeless. For me, it depicted reality in every era. Sadly, dilemmas never stopped. A person's selfishness usually wins in a nation, may it be in a subtle or bold way.

"By the master painter, Juan Luna, brother of Antonio Luna."

"I remember the film, Heneral Luna."

"Do you like that film?"

"I do, I think it was powerful. I like the cast."

"I didn't like it that much, I felt like the whole perspective was endearing, or in a way, kinder towards Antonio Luna."

"Really?"

"Based on my understanding of Antonio's personality, that's what I think. But it was appreciated by many."

"Including me, the patriotism seemed strong, I liked it."

"What I liked about that was the ending, how they put Juan's painting on top of Antonio's death. I think that was... profound."

"Oh, that's my favorite scene! The tragedy was masked by art. The truth was masked by guns. Very powerful."

I took a photo of the Spoliarium and walked with River to look at the other galleries. I was especially excited about Fernando Amorsolo's paintings. In senior high kasi, I learned about Goethe's Color Triangle. My class in senior high always incorporated that triangle into every painting we were learning about, including Fernando Amorsolo's. And Amorsolo's paintings were always my favorite. His style of painting was realism, I was fascinated.

"Did you know that this place used to be the legislative building of the country?"

"Whoa, really?" I asked, quite shocked by River's words. "Yeah, that's why the design looks similar to the Malacañang,"

We walked to the gallery of Rizal as some people moved too.

"Do you know that Rizal was also an artist?" while I was staring at a painting of Rizal's sister, River suddenly whispered to me.

"Really? I thought he was just a writer," I looked at River in awe as he pointed at a sculpture of an unknown man.

"He did that. Bust of Ricardo Carnicero," I walked towards the sculpture and scrutinized it.

Thinking about Jose Rizal's capabilities, I guess it wasn't surprising to know that he knows how to make art as well. He's a doctor, scientist, writer, an illustrado, and polyglot. Rizal is fucking a prodigy. People like him must have so much in there heads. But they're still capable of thinking clearly.