Museo Iloilo holds the distinction as the foremost arts and culture institution of Iloilo. Its establishment in 1971 as the first provincial museum outside Metro Manila signaled an era of modernization and mainstreaming of arts and culture monumentalized by the modernist design rendered by well-endeared Ilonggo architect Sergio V. Peñasales.

Museo Iloilo stands as the beacon of Iloilo arts and culture for the last 52 years. Many of Iloilo’s big names in fine arts traced their humble beginnings at the Museo and plenty of art hobbyists acquired training from the annual summer arts workshop organized by the museum management.

The museum’s permanent exhibition articulates Ilonggo culture and Panay heritage by showing more than 300 pieces of artifacts like fossils, pottery, jars, ceramics, jewelry, textiles, religious and ecclesiastical sculptures, and documentations of traditional practices.

The outstanding collection of Museo Iloilo made it an alternative venue to learn historical facts outside schools, and it became the playground of artists for art literacy, learning exchange, experimentation with different art forms, and the polishing of various artistic practices.

The years that followed have made Museo Iloilo the nucleus of Iloilo arts and culture, offering a platform for local artists to show artworks for the community to learn about and appreciate, and by featuring award-winning art pieces by masters that inspired a new breed of artists.

The initiatives of Museo Iloilo strengthened the camaraderie of artists and cultural workers, and it motivated the formation of local art movements that opened opportunities for many Ilonggo artists to develop remarkable careers in the regional and international arenas, bringing to different audiences the Ilonggo identity through art.

In November 2022, Museo Iloilo’s bright lights went on as it hosted the homecoming solo diptych exhibition of revered artist Norberto “Peewee” Roldan, entitled: Viva España.

See: PEEWEE ROLDAN to have solo diptych exhibition in Iloilo City

The  exhibition of Peewee Roldan demonstrated the political, historical, and cultural affinities using subject-venue parallelism to convey a message through his diptych artwork which was made up of two parts or a singular piece of artwork joined together by a pair of panels.

Museo Iloilo continues to hold changing group exhibitions which showcases the various approaches to art by Ilonggo artists.

Source:

The Museums, Galleries, and Art Spaces of Iloilo: Vignette of a noble past, flamboyant present, and vibrant future, Ted Aldwin Ong, Iloilo Art Book 2021 to 2023, Art in the Heart of the Philippines, published by the Iloilo City Government, 2023.