Provenance: Provenance: Private Collection, Manila

ABOUT THE WORK

          Amorsolo arrives at his true subject, “Paradise on Earth.”
          In painting this lively scene, apparently depicting life among field workers and probably done from reality as much as from imagination, Fernando Amorsolo continues a happy tradition which he started, a subjective theme that as not quite present in the 19th century.  This is probably a break between working hours, providing farm workers with a glorious opportunity to be free from the restraint of work.
          The color scheme is gorgeous, a complex interplay of warm and cool hues.  The bright spots of light cast by the noon sun catches the field workers’ bodies. The trees have a lush verdure which contrast with the shadows within the nipa hut which are anything but pure black because of the penetrating sunlight.
          Amorsolo takes every opportunity to depict the kind of down to earth life lived outside the more familiar and sophisticated life in the city.  To judge by the  exuberantly gestural qualities of the brushstrokes, he shares his positive inner spirit.