Provenance: Private Collection, Manila

ABOUT THE WORK

Known for having painted genre and historical scenes after the Philippine Revolution, Jorge Pineda was one of the early visualizers of the Filipino identity. Involved in some activity, such as selling Christmas lanterns or stringing sampaguita flowers, the figures of his works, in traditional clothing, reveal a quiet dignity. In his lifetime, Pineda also painted landscapes, such as this work that he accomplished in 1930. Showing an almost barren terrain, trees that have lost their leaves dominate the scene, their complex branches shattering a washed-out sky. The work may be seen as a contemplation of mortality, of the last in the seven stages of man, but the painting mays imply be an affirmation of nature’s cyclical rhythms.