Pinto Art Museum - Antipolo's Awesome Art Gallery

It's National Arts Month! You know what that means: Time to hit the road and visit museums, art galleries, and art exhibitions wherever they are!

Being that Filipinos are such creative people, Metro Manila has a lot of such places where Filipinos from all walks of life can appreciate and admire local artistry, culture and ingenuity.

Along Luneta Park in Manila, there's the Museum of the Filipino People and the National Art Gallery. At the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Complex in Malate, Manila, there's the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In Makati City, private museums like the Yuchengco Museum and the Ayala Museum also have a number of precious and intangible artwork on display.

But art spaces and exhibit areas aren't limited to Metro Manila. In Antipolo City in Rizal Province, a city known for its cool climate, highland topography and stunning evening views of the metropolis, there's an art gallery that's attracting visitors from all over the Philippines not just for its unique artworks but also for its one-of-a-kind setting.

Pinto Art Museum redefines what a museum and art gallery is supposed to be.

When I first visited the museum with my family in February 2018, I am reminded of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Entering the museum grounds, it's like you fell into a rabbit hole and emerged into an entirely different world.

Instead of large buildings with different gilded halls and either classical or post-modern architecture, this museum is located on the side of a ridge and has gardens teeming with lush foliage and even animals like frogs, birds and insects.

Apart from artworks inside various galleries designed with a Spanish Revival architecture, its gardens are also filled with art installations that pique visitors' interest and their need for Instagram-worthy shots.

As it is located in a large piece of hilly property, there are numerous beds and seats placed along key areas of the museum where visitors can sit and rest in the middle of their stroll. There's also a cafe and restaurant if you're looking for some excellent grub.

Founded in 2010 by Filipino neurologist and patron of the arts Dr. Joven Cuanang, the museum has since served as a venue to publicly exhibit his private art collection. He began collecting art in the late 1980s by patronizing and acquiring the works of a revolutionary group of Filipino artists, The Salingpusa Collective.

The museum was founded on the principle that art plays a diplomatic role in bridging distinctive nationalities, worldviews, and communities, hence, it's name pintô, which means door in the Tagalog language.

To see what saw and experienced at Pinto Art Museum, watch the entire episode of my #EpicAdventures there below:

It's not everyday that you get to see a museum that stands out from among the collection of museums and art galleries in the metro. I would most definitely drop by and take another stroll at its multi-themed galleries and relax while seated in its manicured gardens. You should go here too as well.

Pinto Art Museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. It's located at No. 1 Sierra Madre Street corner Grand Heights Road, Antipolo, Rizal, Philippines. The museum charges an entrance fee of P200 for regular visitors, P180 for senior citizens/PWDs and P100 for students.

See you next time for more #EpicAdventures!