17th to early 20th century National Fine Arts Collection (Pasig River)

Posted on:  |  National Museum of the Philippines

The #NationalMuseumPH features “Pasig River” (1948) by Miguel Galvez for this week’s #ArtStrollSunday series.

Registered as government property in 1987, this oil painting by Miguel Galvez illustrates the Pasig River painted in the daytime. Completed three years after the Second World War, this painting shows two fishing vessels at rest on the banks of the river, showing the attempt of the Filipinos to get back on their feet and continue with their lives after the war. The Pasig River stretches 27 km long and is the main river that connects Laguna de Bay and Manila Bay. 

Miguel Galvez (1912-1989) was born in Paombong, Bulacan. In 1932, he went to Manila and took free art lessons under his uncle, painter and art teacher Teodoro Buenaventura (1863-1950). Esteemed art historian, scholar, and educator, Dr. Santiago Albano Pilar classified the 1930s to 1948 as Galvez’s first art period – as shown by the several landscape and genre (everyday scenes) paintings he produced. It was also in 1948 when he launched his first one-man show at the showroom of Hans Kansten and Associates. In 1950, San Miguel Corporation awarded Galvez as the country’s Outstanding Landscape Painter. 

The artist has six other works in the NFAC namely: Rural Scene (Pagud Lawin) [1946, oil on panel], Return from the Farm (1949, oil on canvas), Planting Rice (1951, oil on canvas), Furniture Store (1960, oil on canvas), Nude (1989, oil on canvas), and Nipa Hut (Undated, watercolor on paper). Some of these artworks are on the Northwest Wing Hallway Gallery, Second Floor, and the Executive Floor of the National Museum of Fine Arts.

We are now open! To visit the National Museum of Fine Arts (NMFA), you may book a slot on this website. For those who wish to stay at home, you may view the 360 degrees virtual tour of select NMFA galleries on this link: https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/nmfa360/HTML5/NMFA360.html. See you at your National Museum!

#ArtStrollSunday

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Text by NMP-FAD

Photo by Bengy Toda

© National Museum of the Philippines (2021)