Accompanied by a certificate signed by the artist confirming the authenticity of this lot

Provenance: Private Collection, Manila

Literature: Reyes, Cid. Romulo Olazo. Mandaluyong City: Paseo Gallery, 2013. Full-color photograph on page 248 and painting description on page 249.

ABOUT THE WORK

From Claude Monet to Vincent van Gogh to Georgia O’Keeffe, a lot of the finest painters were enamored with flowers, depicting them in unique variations with ardor and gusto. Whether as still lifes or as decorative elements in domestic interiors, flowers bloom in the often brilliantly painted canvases of those figurative artists. As well, artists in our country are not immune to the seduction of flowers, this includes the abstractionist maestro Romulo Olazo. Diaphanous Anthuriums #77, done in oil on canvas, is a piece that reminds him of the day when he, having arrived from a painting session with the Saturday Group of Artists, brought to his wife an armful of anthuriums. The romantic event paved the way for a new theme in the art of Olazo. His anthurium paintings were executed at first as a realistic still life and then later rendered with his signature Diaphanous approach, flattened but still retaining its distinctly recognizable heart shape, a shape that evokes the universal emotion of love. For Olazo, the anthurium was a flower that moved his heart. (Isabella Romarate)