FÉLIX R. HIDALGO (1855 - 1913)
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Nineteenth century Filipino impressionist painter Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo was as prominent and influential a historical figure as he was an artist of the Philippines. Although he did not directly participate in the Philippine Reform Movement, he called certain members of the movement friends, including José Rizal and Mariano Ponce, and left lasting impressions on them through his art. Considered by some historians as one of the driving forces in using the power of visual art to make statements about national conflicts, Hildalgo painted landscapes, seascapes, portraits, and historical and mythological scenes that exposed the true identity and intentions of the colonial rulers of the Philippines. He was considered by Filipinos as a national hero and a celebrated artist around for his historic and aesthetically powerful paintings, many of which demanded attention and won high honors among thousands of entries at prestigious international exhibitions. Hidalgo created over one thousand works—many large-scale neoclassical canvasses and murals—using oil, watercolor, pastels, and charcoal.
He was born in 1855 in Binondo, a district of Manila, better known as “Chinatown” today due to the large ethnic Chinese population that resides there, but at the time of Hidalgo’s birth the Philippines was part of the Spanish East Indies. Hidalgo’s father was a successful lawyer and landowner and his mother, a businesswoman. Details of Hidalgo’s early education are limited, however it is speculated that his mother schooled him from home. In 1871, Hidalgo earned a Bachelor of Philosophy from one of the largest Catholic universities in the world, the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. Father Sabater, a teacher at the university, was a mentor to Hidalgo who gave him his first lessons in drawing and encouraged him to focus on his artistic talents. Hidalgo had previously pursued a law degree due to parental pressure, but he was unsuccessful. His passion for art trumped all other interests and he decided to continue studying art, and moved to Europe. From 1879 to 1881, he studied painting on a scholarship funded by the Spanish government at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid, and was simultaneously enrolled under Spanish master painter, Don Agustin Saez, at the Escuela de Dibujo y Pintura. The terms of his scholarship required him to execute several life-sized canvases for the Spanish colonial government, some of which were destroyed in World War II. One of young Hidalgo’s earliest accomplishments was in 1877, when he placed second in a cover design contest for Flora de Manila (“Plants of the Philippines”) ranking only behind his school’s director and much more experienced artist, Saez, who won first place. In 1879, he went to Rome under scholarship to paint several portraits, including Senador Romano (“Roman Senator”) and Melancholia. Hidalgo camped throughout Spain in 1883 to practice painting landscapes and then moved to Paris in 1884.
He first gained notoriety at the 1884 Madrid Exposition of Fine Arts, alongside Filipino painter Juan Luna. Luna won one of fifteen gold medals for Spoliarium and Hidalgo’s Virgenes Cristianas Expuestas al Populacho (“Christian Virgins Exposed to the Populace”) received the ninth of forty-five silver medals. Hidalgo’s winning piece shows a group of semi-nude female slaves, one with her feet bound and head bowed, taunted by a mob of barbaric Roman males. The Filipino people rejoiced upon learning of these honors and toasted to what they considered symbolic proof of Filipino equality with the Spaniards. This achievement also prompted Filipinos to be more active participants in European culture. Jose Rizal commented on Hidalgo’s silver medal painting and the painter during a banquet in Madrid the same year stating, “…in Hidalgo’s work there are revealed feelings of the purest kind; ideal expression of melancholy, beauty and weakness—victims of brute force…in Hidalgo we find all is light, color, harmony, feeling, clearness; like the Philippines on moonlit nights, with her horizons that invite to meditation and suggest infinity.”
Hidalgo won other prestigious awards around the world for Oedipus y Antigone (Oedipus and Antigone), El Violinista (“The Violinist”; gold medal), La Barca de Aqueronte (“The Boat of Charon”), Laguna estigia (“The Styx”; gold medal), and others. La Barca de Aqueronte has a remarkable history as it was shown at the Exposition Universalle in Paris (silver medal), again at the Exposición General de Bellas Artes of Barcelona (gold medal), and at the International Exposition of Fine Arts in Madrid (diploma de honor) during the quadricentennial anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. Ultimately, the Spanish government bought the painting in 1893 and hung it in the Museo-Biblioteca de Ultramar. After the United States annexed the Philippines, it was sent to the Museo Nacional de Pinturas de Madrid. In 1904, Hidalgo took a gold medal for his overall performance in the Universal Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri.
Hidalgo spent more time painting abroad—nearly thirty years in total—than he did living in the Philippines. He enjoyed living the quiet life in Paris, devoting his life to art, and working from his studio, which became a refuge of sorts for Filipino artists and revolutionaries. Although he struggled financially as an artist in the city, Hidalgo adored Paris and was extremely productive during his time there. To help support his career, Hidalgo even worked as a correspondent for La Independencia, a newspaper published in Manila by a revolutionary general.
One year before his death he traveled to Asia and parts of Eastern Europe. He began this trip with a six-month visit to post-revolutionary Philippines to see his sick mother and other relatives who he had been apart for nearly thirty years. While in Manila he completed several landscapes of his homeland. Hidalgo’s mother wanted him to remain with her until her death, but the artist did not want to be away from Paris for long. He left his family and traveled to Japan and took the Trans-Siberian railway back to Europe, however he fell severely ill in Russia and was near death by the time he reached his beloved Paris. He journeyed on to Spain in hopes of recovery, but died at the age of 53 near Barcelona in 1913. Hidalgo was honored by the Philippines that same year with a street named after him in Quiapo, Manila. Hidalgo Street was regarded as the most beautiful street in Manila during the late 19th century. His remains were returned to the Philippines by a friend for final burial at a family mausoleum in Manila.
His work is featured at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila and the Lopez Museum in Pasig City, Philippines. A work by Hidalgo on the art market may approach a selling price near seven figures.
Some Affiliated Schools, Galleries and Museums:
University of Santo Tomas
Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
Metropolitan Museum of Manila
Lopez Museum
Museo Nacional de Pinturas de Madrid
A partrail life of notable exhibitors and awards:
Madrid Exposition of Fine Arts, Silver Medal
Exposition Universalle in Paris, Silver medal
Exposición General de Bellas Artes of Barcelona, Gold medal
International Exposition of Fine Arts in Madrid
Universal Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri, Gold medal
Known Works:
Las Virgenes Cristianas Expuestas al Populacho, 1884
La Barca de Aqueronte, 1887
Publications:
Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo & the Generation of 1872, by Alfredo R. Roces, Eugenio Lopez Foundation, 1998
A Guide to Luna and Hidalgo Paintings in the López Memorial Museum, by Lopez Museum, Eugenio Lopez Foundation, 1979
He was born in 1855 in Binondo, a district of Manila, better known as “Chinatown” today due to the large ethnic Chinese population that resides there, but at the time of Hidalgo’s birth the Philippines was part of the Spanish East Indies. Hidalgo’s father was a successful lawyer and landowner and his mother, a businesswoman. Details of Hidalgo’s early education are limited, however it is speculated that his mother schooled him from home. In 1871, Hidalgo earned a Bachelor of Philosophy from one of the largest Catholic universities in the world, the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. Father Sabater, a teacher at the university, was a mentor to Hidalgo who gave him his first lessons in drawing and encouraged him to focus on his artistic talents. Hidalgo had previously pursued a law degree due to parental pressure, but he was unsuccessful. His passion for art trumped all other interests and he decided to continue studying art, and moved to Europe. From 1879 to 1881, he studied painting on a scholarship funded by the Spanish government at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid, and was simultaneously enrolled under Spanish master painter, Don Agustin Saez, at the Escuela de Dibujo y Pintura. The terms of his scholarship required him to execute several life-sized canvases for the Spanish colonial government, some of which were destroyed in World War II. One of young Hidalgo’s earliest accomplishments was in 1877, when he placed second in a cover design contest for Flora de Manila (“Plants of the Philippines”) ranking only behind his school’s director and much more experienced artist, Saez, who won first place. In 1879, he went to Rome under scholarship to paint several portraits, including Senador Romano (“Roman Senator”) and Melancholia. Hidalgo camped throughout Spain in 1883 to practice painting landscapes and then moved to Paris in 1884.
He first gained notoriety at the 1884 Madrid Exposition of Fine Arts, alongside Filipino painter Juan Luna. Luna won one of fifteen gold medals for Spoliarium and Hidalgo’s Virgenes Cristianas Expuestas al Populacho (“Christian Virgins Exposed to the Populace”) received the ninth of forty-five silver medals. Hidalgo’s winning piece shows a group of semi-nude female slaves, one with her feet bound and head bowed, taunted by a mob of barbaric Roman males. The Filipino people rejoiced upon learning of these honors and toasted to what they considered symbolic proof of Filipino equality with the Spaniards. This achievement also prompted Filipinos to be more active participants in European culture. Jose Rizal commented on Hidalgo’s silver medal painting and the painter during a banquet in Madrid the same year stating, “…in Hidalgo’s work there are revealed feelings of the purest kind; ideal expression of melancholy, beauty and weakness—victims of brute force…in Hidalgo we find all is light, color, harmony, feeling, clearness; like the Philippines on moonlit nights, with her horizons that invite to meditation and suggest infinity.”
Hidalgo won other prestigious awards around the world for Oedipus y Antigone (Oedipus and Antigone), El Violinista (“The Violinist”; gold medal), La Barca de Aqueronte (“The Boat of Charon”), Laguna estigia (“The Styx”; gold medal), and others. La Barca de Aqueronte has a remarkable history as it was shown at the Exposition Universalle in Paris (silver medal), again at the Exposición General de Bellas Artes of Barcelona (gold medal), and at the International Exposition of Fine Arts in Madrid (diploma de honor) during the quadricentennial anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. Ultimately, the Spanish government bought the painting in 1893 and hung it in the Museo-Biblioteca de Ultramar. After the United States annexed the Philippines, it was sent to the Museo Nacional de Pinturas de Madrid. In 1904, Hidalgo took a gold medal for his overall performance in the Universal Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri.
Hidalgo spent more time painting abroad—nearly thirty years in total—than he did living in the Philippines. He enjoyed living the quiet life in Paris, devoting his life to art, and working from his studio, which became a refuge of sorts for Filipino artists and revolutionaries. Although he struggled financially as an artist in the city, Hidalgo adored Paris and was extremely productive during his time there. To help support his career, Hidalgo even worked as a correspondent for La Independencia, a newspaper published in Manila by a revolutionary general.
One year before his death he traveled to Asia and parts of Eastern Europe. He began this trip with a six-month visit to post-revolutionary Philippines to see his sick mother and other relatives who he had been apart for nearly thirty years. While in Manila he completed several landscapes of his homeland. Hidalgo’s mother wanted him to remain with her until her death, but the artist did not want to be away from Paris for long. He left his family and traveled to Japan and took the Trans-Siberian railway back to Europe, however he fell severely ill in Russia and was near death by the time he reached his beloved Paris. He journeyed on to Spain in hopes of recovery, but died at the age of 53 near Barcelona in 1913. Hidalgo was honored by the Philippines that same year with a street named after him in Quiapo, Manila. Hidalgo Street was regarded as the most beautiful street in Manila during the late 19th century. His remains were returned to the Philippines by a friend for final burial at a family mausoleum in Manila.
His work is featured at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila and the Lopez Museum in Pasig City, Philippines. A work by Hidalgo on the art market may approach a selling price near seven figures.
Some Affiliated Schools, Galleries and Museums:
University of Santo Tomas
Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
Metropolitan Museum of Manila
Lopez Museum
Museo Nacional de Pinturas de Madrid
A partrail life of notable exhibitors and awards:
Madrid Exposition of Fine Arts, Silver Medal
Exposition Universalle in Paris, Silver medal
Exposición General de Bellas Artes of Barcelona, Gold medal
International Exposition of Fine Arts in Madrid
Universal Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri, Gold medal
Known Works:
Las Virgenes Cristianas Expuestas al Populacho, 1884
La Barca de Aqueronte, 1887
Publications:
Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo & the Generation of 1872, by Alfredo R. Roces, Eugenio Lopez Foundation, 1998
A Guide to Luna and Hidalgo Paintings in the López Memorial Museum, by Lopez Museum, Eugenio Lopez Foundation, 1979
