Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist by Mrs. Floy Aguenza

ABOUT THE WORK

During his college days at the University of the Philippines from 1926 to 1930, Vicente Manansala perfected his basic mixing and became more adept in painting using different media, including oil and watercolor. The technical proficiency he exhibited at the university level earned him several scholarship grants to further hone his creative prowess abroad. In 1950, Manansala received a grant from the French government to study for nine months at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. While in the French capital, he had the opportunity to be mentored by Fernand Léger, a renowned French painter, sculptor, and filmmaker, and a forerunner of pop art. Pervaded by nostalgia for his period of sojourn to France, Manansala produced several paintings depicting picturesque sceneries in the European country. For instance, Manansala portrays a quiet and narrow cobblestoned street in Paris. The artist depicts a pleasant and serene street in the City of Love with rows of well-preserved structures lining the pavement. Manansala also captures the town of Lourdes at its most idyllic state. Lourdes is a small market town lying on the foothills of the Pyrenees. It is famed for the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Roman Catholicism.