Felix Louie Ace Dela Cruz

BSA 1-6

Antipolo Fiesta, 1947

By Fernando Amorsolo

My Verdict:
This paining symbolizes the bountiful celebration of Fiestas in Antipolo that includes
different variety of foods such as lechon, different varieties of fruits and vegetables, men and
women dancing, and the gathering of and member of the community. Also, this painting
presents the landscape of how a “bayan” looks with a church and a market. In addition to, it
also shows how to live in the provincial parts of the country and it manifests simplicity of the
life of the early Filipinos way back then.

Authors Verdict:

This oil painting on canvas depicts a rural scene where a group of people are shown
celebrating a fiesta in Antipolo. The main focus is on a pair of dancers in the field surrounded
by revelers both young and old. Abundant food is presented in basketfuls of assorted fruits
on the benches and on the ground, as well as the traditional roasted pig or lechon being
prepared by two men. Nearby is a house with huge windows from where dwellers watch the
revelers. At the background is a huge church, a symbolic town structure. A vast number of
townsmen completes the essence of a fiesta.
Felix Louie Ace Dela Cruz
BSA 1-6

It can be said that the pair of dancers are in the usual same pose as those of dancers in
Fernando Amorsolo’s various well-known tinikling-related paintings. A viewer may be quick
to surmise at a glance that this painting belongs to that category, as the bamboo handlers in
the usual tinikling dance often blend in the crowd and are not easily distinguished. However,
there are no bamboo-handlers present in this painting simply because the dancers are not
performing the tinikling dance. Thus, this indication is what makes this painting very unique

From: Fernando C. Amorsolo Art Foundation. (2011, June). Retrieved from

http://www.fernandoamorsolo.org/featured.htm