Revered Filipino painter Juan Luna’s masterpiece “La Bulaqueña” is set to be displayed in Louvre Abu Dhabi next year.
This has been announced by Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III during a Senate plenary session on the budget of the National Museum of the Philippines.
“The good news, I think Mr. (Jeremy) Barnes and the National Museum have been approached by the Louvre in Abu Dhabi to lend some pieces, some works of art to be displayed in the Louvre in Abu Dhabi,” Pimentel said.
The senator jokingly said that he got the “inside information” from his wife Ma. Anna Kathryna Yu-Pimentel, who is currently the Special Envoy to UAE for Trade and Investments.
He added that the National Museum director Jeremy Barnes told him that the portrait depicting a Bulaceña wearing the traditional Filipiniana will be lent to the museum in June 2025.
“Congratulations to the National Museum for that achievement,” the senator said.
According to the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the subject of the painting is a “comely Filipina from an elite provincial family.”
