Spoliarium

Infobox Painting|

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title=Spoliarium
artist=Juan Luna
year=circa 1884
type=oil on poplar
height=400
width=700
museum=National Museum of the Philippines

The "Spoliarium" is a painting by Filipino artist Juan Luna. The painting was submitted by Luna to the "Exposicin Nacional de Bellas Artes" in 1884, where it garnered a gold medal. In 1886, it was sold to the "Diputacin Provincial de Barcelona" for 20,000 pesetas. It currently hangs in the main gallery at the ground floor of the National Museum of the Philippines, and is the first work of art that greets visitors upon entry into the museum.

Aesthetics

The "Spoliarium" measures four meters in height and seven meters in width. The canvas depicts a chamber beneath a Roman arena, where bodies of dead gladiators are being dragged into a shadowy area, presumaon the far right side of the painting is a grieving woman in torn and shabby clothing. Horizontal lines are seen in the walls and the people watching the scene. But diagonal lines that denote movement are very obvious and can be seen in the gladiators’ slain bodies, in the men dragging them and in the floor tiles. There is dominant use of contour lines as shown in the muscles of the arms, legs and backs of the gladiators. In the use of color, there is a governing use of red, mostly seen in the center, that is one of the first things to attract the attention of the viewer. The use of green on the weeping lady's dress creates contrast against the gladiators’ red dresses. The intensity of the color red is very overwhelming. Almost all of the colors used are warm colors, which is thought to be intentional on the part of the artist. Luna has been known to use colors not simply for reasons of aesthetics but also for their symbolic value.

the painting reflects the condition of the Filipinos (indios) during the colonizers' time. it shows the abuses, the maltreatment, the discrimination of the foreign people to the Filipino. through painting, the painter express his observation among the people of his society.