We celebrate the Filipino Food Month and Rice Festival Week by honoring the people behind the country’s food production with this oil painting on canvas by Miguel Galvez (1912-1989) titled “Planting Rice” (1951) from the National Fine Arts Collection (NFAC).

The artwork portrays farmers doing their painstaking task of planting rice in a Philippine rural area. Often taken for granted, our farmers play a very vital role in national food security and economy as the Philippines is considered primarily an agricultural country. Our farmers endure long hours of work in the searing heat to ensure we have food on our tables. Apart from rice, they provide supplies of various crops to feed the country’s population. The National Museum recognizes their importance and would like to pay tribute to them especially during this time of global crisis.