Juan Luna's 'La Bulaqueña' to be displayed in Louvre in Abu Dhabi

Juan Luna's "La Bulaqueña" will be displayed in the Louvre Abu Dhabi in June 2025.

This was disclosed during the Senate plenary deliberations on the proposed 2025 national budget of the National Museum of the Philippines.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III made the announcement as he joked about having "inside information" from his wife, Kathryna Yu-Pimentel, who currently sits as a special envoy to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

"The good news, I think Mr. 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.

He said he asked National Museum director Jeremy Barnes which painting would be lent to the Louvre in Abu Dhabi during the Senate anniversary celebration on Wednesday night at the National Museum.

"Last night, when I arrived at the National Museum, I immediately asked Mr. Barnes where is that piece of art, which piece-- I think we will lend one in the Louvre in Abu Dhabi-- and led me to the La Bulaqueña, [a] painting by Juan Luna of a Bulakenya in Filipiniana attire," the senator said.

Both houses of Congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives, used to hold sessions and office at what is now the National Museum.

Senator Pia Cayetano, the sponsor of the budget of the National Museum, said that Juan Luna's painting will be displayed in the Louvre in Abu Dhabi in June next year.

"Congratulations to the National Museum for that achievement," Pimentel said.

According to the Cultural Center of the Philippines' Encyclopedia of Philippine Art, Juan Luna's La Bulaqueña is a portraiture of Emiliana Yriarte Trinidad who is a "comely Filipina from an elite provincial family."

Trinidad was "less than 17 years old when she posed for the painting, which Juan Luna started in November 1895 and finished in the first months of 1896."

The painting was sold to the National Museum during World War II for 200 in Japanese military notes, according to the CCP. —NB, GMA Integrated News