Art and Medicine

 

On Monday, ConceptCentral asked which of the five huge paintings at the lobby of the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) in the series The Progression of Medicine in the Philippines would fetch the highest bid if auctioned.

 

The no-brainer answer may be that any of the first four paintings by National Artist Carlos “Botong” Francisco would command a kingly price. That is if the four at the PGH are not mere copies of Botong’s originals now lodged with the National Museum in Manila since 2011.

 

The fifth (shown in this picture) is an ultra-realistic piece by Jose “Pitok” Blanco, painted in 2007 or a year before the artist’s passing. It is the only original of the five canvass now on display but largely unnoticed at the PGH. Both Botong and Blanco were from Angono, Rizal.

 

So, as a trick question, the answer would be that only the Blanco piece at the PGH would interest an auction house. This is not to say though that the Blanco piece would be up for auction any time now, it being now a part of PGH’s history.

 

As to the restored, original four Botong paintings on permanent display at the National Museum after 58 years of adorning the PGH lobby, they had been declared national treasures. The panels measuring 2.92 meters by 2.76 meters depict the development of medicine in the country from the pre-colonial period to the 1950s.

 

The Blanco piece, like the Botongs a painting and not a mural as murals are painted directly on the walls of a structure, focuses more on medicine as practiced in the Philippines, specifically at the PGH, at present.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Text and photo by JhDodson)