(Vegetable Vendor) / 1977 / Acrylic on canvas / 61 x 61 cm / Artist: Norma Belleza / Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas collection

Belleza consistently paints women as full-bodied, hardworking beings unmindful of their daily burdens. Unlike her scarce output of the mid-1960s, which were mostly in dull blues, greens, grays, and browns, her prolific output since the mid-1970s are starkly illuminated by the widest spectrum of colors in their purest state.

Maggugulay, a typical Belleza oeuvre, may look charmingly crude or delightfully naive, but it is actually a well-structured work. Pictorial space is treated as a flat plane divided into the contoured shapes of the women’s figures and the angular forms of the hawker’s nipa shed and mats. A perfectly balanced composition becomes the basics of what is apparently a sheer clash of intense hues squeezed straight from the tube.

Scarlet and manganese blue are the dominant colors interplayed. Rough brushstrokes of red on the central figure’s baro (blouse) echo the redness of the earth on which she squats. The blue mat at the foreground, on which are laid out blue squash, lavender eggplants, and yellow garlic, becomes the picture’s stabilizing horizon line; the lean-to is the axis. Plaids of the tapis or overskirt and stripes of the panyo or handkerchief become decorative patterns that are repeated at the background and periphery. These all add up to a truly festive atmosphere. Daubs of yellow, lavender, and turquoise enhance the harmony of the complementary colors.

While there is no attempt at capturing objective reality, there is an overall intimation of a crowded, noisy, humid wet market scene. Decorativeness, optical delight, and joy of life are reflected by the painting. Meanwhile, Belleza’s women remain down-to-earth, strong, unflappable, and unemotional as they tend to myriad matters of daily struggle and survival.