• AFTER 300 YEARS OF THE SPANISH RULE PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE WAS DECLARED – JUNE

12, 1898
• THE FIGHT AGAINST COLONIALISM WAS STRENGTENED BY PROPAGANDISTS
1. A REFORMIST MOVEMENT AIMING AT LEGALLY AFFIRMING EQUALITY BETWEEN SPANISH
AND FILIPINOS
2. PROTECTING CIVIL RIGHTS
3. GIVING MORE POWER TO THE PHILIPINES INSIDE THE SPANISH EMPIRE LIKE GIVING
FILIPINOS A SPANISH CITIZENSHIP, MAKING THE PH A SPANISH PROVINCE
4. GRANTING FILOS REPRESENTATION IN THE SPANISH PARLIAMENT
PROPAGANDISTS (BOTH WERE IN MADRID IN 1884)
1. JOSE RIZAL
2. GRACIANO LOPEZ JAENA

ARTISTS WHO WON PRESTIGIOUS PRIZES AT THE NATIONAL EXHIBITION OF FINE ARTS IN
MADRID
1. FELIX HIDALGO WON A SILVER MEDAL WITH HIS CHRISTIAN VIRGINS EXPOSED TO THE
POPULACE
2. JUAN LUNA WON A GOLD MEDAL WITH HIS FAMOUS SPOLIARIUM

SPOLIARIUM
• THE PAINTING SHOWS THE CRUELTY, INJUSTICES, SUFFERINGS AND HELPLESSNESS
EXPERIENCED BY THE GLADIATORS. THE PAINTING REVEALS HOW PEOPLE WERE DEPRIVED
OF THEIR FREEDOM AND RIGHTS.
• SERVED AS EVIDENCE AGAINST THE CLAIM THAT THEY WERE INFERIOR
• WHEN LUNA WON, LOPEZ JAENA SAID THAT – “THE PHILIPPINES IS MORE THAN A
VERITABLE SPOLIARIUM WITH ALL ITS HORRORS. THERE IT LIES IN MANGLED FRAGMENTS,
HUMANITY MASSACRED, AND FANATICISM AND INJUSTICE
• JOHN SILVA (SENIOR CONSULTANT ATH THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF PH) – SAID THAT
SPOLIARIUM IS WHAT INSPIRED REVOLUTION, OR ATLEAST REFORMATION, IN THESE
THINKERS.
• AT THE CENTER OF THE PAINTING, DEAD BODIES WERE BEING DRAGGED (LUNA WANTS US
TO LOOK THERE, IT’S BEING EMPHASIZED THE VIBRANT RED)
• ON THE LEFT, YOU CAN SEE SCAVENGERS LOOKING AT THEIR POSSIBLE LOOT, AND A MAN IS
PUSHING ANOTHER ONE AWAY
• ON THE RIGHT A WOMAN MOURNING HER SON OR HUSBANDS DEATH
• THIS PAINTING IS ONE OF DEATH AND SUFFERING, NOT ONLY THE SUFFERING OF THE
GLADIATORS, BUT ALSO THE ONES THEY LOVE
 • IN ONE IMPORTANT NOTE TO SUM IT ALL UP, ALL THIS DEATH AND SUFFERING IS
SENSELESS, IT’S AVOIDABLE, EQUATING THE ROMAN CRUELTY WITH THE SPANISH CRUELTY,
EQUATING ROME’S VIOLENT IMPERIALISM WITH SPAIN’S VIOLENT COLONIALISM
• THE MOST IMPORTANT REASON AS TO WHY THIS PAINTING WAS TO BECOME A SOCIAL
COMMENTARY (providing one's perspective on society and its problems, Ang namulat, 'di
na muling pipikit. Hindi na natin kailanman hahayaang matulog muli ang pag-asang
nagising) WAS BECAUSE ITS ARTIST WAS FROM ONE OF SPAIN’S COLONIES
• HIS IDENTITY AS A COLONIZED PERSON WAS GOING TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE
INTERPRETATION OF THIS PAINTING.
• EVEN IF LUNA WAS IN FAVOR OF SPANISH COLONIALISM, THIS PAINTING WOULD STILL, BY
VIRTUE OF BEING PRESENTED BY A FILIPINO ARTIST, BE AN ANTI-COLONIAL ARTWORK
• IT PRESENTS A BEHIND THE SCENES IMAGE OF THE CRUELTY AND BLOODSHED OF AN
EMPIRE AND ITS PORTAYED BY A COLONIAL SUBJECT

REVOLUTIONARY PAINTINGS
• “The Making of the Philippine Flag” by Fernando Amorsolo - to show the citizen of the
Philippines of how the Philippine flag was made and to remind them the traditions and
customs that we did not realize it becomes faded. For one, one of the three women sewing
the flag isn’t actually a woman—yet.
• LIBERTY LEADING THE PEOPLE BY EUGÈNE DELACROIX –
1. During the times of the French Revolution, art became a way to enhance the spirit of the
people who fought against monarchic oppressive dominance.
2. Artists like Eugene Delacroix created paintings of great expressive and symbolic power, to
give voice to the revolutionary drive that was felt by the population, and to describe the
necessary violence brought by Civil War, as a way to enable the escalation towards freedom.
3. Liberty Leading the People shows a woman, in the centre of a mass of soldiers and a group
of men who may be either dead or dying. The woman in the painting represents freedom.
The symbol is that of the goddess of liberty and is also found in the Statue of Liberty, which
was given to America by people of France in 1886.
4. In this particular painting, an allegoric representation of “Liberty” is depicted while holding
the French flag and leading the people against the monarchic army; defending what were
believed to be the people’s main rights to be free and equal. The composition of this
masterpiece leaves nothing out of place and is built to enhance some of the details present
in the painting.
5. The Statue of Liberty stands in Upper New York Bay, a universal symbol of freedom.
Originally conceived as an emblem of the friendship between the people of France and the
U.S. and a sign of their mutual desire for liberty, it was also meant to celebrate the abolition
of slavery following the U.S. Civil War.