Pinto Art Museum

Pinto was founded by the neurologist and collector Joven Cuanang on a hillside in Antipolo, and the setting is half of what makes it work: a series of whitewashed, Mediterranean-influenced buildings designed by Antonio Leaño, spread through terraced gardens with courtyards, pools, arches and views back over Metro Manila, so moving between galleries means walking outdoors through planting. The collection is contemporary Philippine art, strong on the Salingpusa and Sanggawa groups and on artists who emerged from the 1990s onward, with painting, sculpture and installation across the pavilions, plus a small ethnographic and medical-history section. There is a café and a chapel. It is an hour from Manila on a good day and considerably more at weekends, when Antipolo's roads fill; going on a weekday morning is the difference between a pleasant few hours and a queue.

History

The doctor and collector Joven Cuanang bought the house and lot in Antipolo in the 1970s, opened the Pinto Gallery around 2000 and founded the Pintô Art Museum in 2010, out of his long patronage of local Antipolo artists. The museum is run by the Silangan Foundation for the Arts, Culture, and Ecology (Wikipedia, Pintô Art Museum).

What to look for

• The white pavilions - galleries linked through terraced gardens.
• The contemporary collection - painting, sculpture and installation.
• The garden setting - courtyards, pools and city views.
• The chapel and café - the quieter corners of the grounds.

When to go

November to May for the gardens at their best; weekday mornings to avoid both traffic and crowds. It closes on Mondays.

Practical notes

Weekend traffic to Antipolo is heavy and the museum gets busy. Entry is charged and the site is spread over slopes and steps. Public transport gets you to Antipolo, not to the gate.

Nearby

Antipolo Cathedral and Hinulugang Taktak are close; the Rizal ridge restaurants overlook the city.

Key facts