1955 / Oil on canvas / 60.5 x 85 cm / Artist: Irineo Miranda / Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas collection

Miranda’s approach to painting has been described by critics as theatrical. Such adjective is atypical of the Amorsolo school of painting to which he belonged. Miranda often deviated from his peer’s academic norm of rendering atmospheric, shimmering light. Dominador Castañeda noted that this deviation—“having a tendency to be verbatim” and a propensity to drama—comes from Miranda’s experience as scenographer.

The theatricality of Procession lies mainly in the stark contrast of light. The yellow luminescence of the picture is a beacon that guides the nuns in their vespers march and leads the viewer’s eyes to the painting’s formal apex: the convent’s interior. The quality of light tempers as it falls on the green lawn and the floral bush at the foreground. Dusk envelopes the rest of the landscape. About two-thirds of the pictorial space is dark. Eventually, a beholder empathizes with the total solemnity of the scene.

Empathy is sustained by the rhythmic movement of the vertical white figures. The floral bush at the foreground provides an accent to this vertical regularity. The white lilies echo the whiteness of the nuns’ robes, as they also lyrically allude to saintly purity.

Another point of high contrast is Miranda’s choice of color. The wide areas of green, turquoise, and purple are accentuated by sparse areas of vermilion and yellow, their complementary colors. The color scheme provides a strong sensual appeal that does not detract from the painting’s solemn intent.