Expulsion of Adam and Eve from paradise

Describe:

Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise

by Benjamin West, 1791.

Analyze:

Interpret

- Two figures (Adam and Eve) are in despair, the third figure is an angel banishing them from the Garden of Eden, snake is on ground
- desolate background cast in shadow
- lines cleanly define shapes
- actual, implied, and edge line
- uniform in faded paint texture throughout the piece unifies
- common color scheme: white, brown, yellow, some red, black

- Ethereal appearance due to intense colors
- figures are in motion: Adam and Eve bent over with despair, angel waving his arms and threatening
- emphasis on three figures because of light on their form
- clouds frame the scene
- contrast of value of Garden of Eden and the world outside

Benjamin West takes inferences from the Bible story of Adam and Eve to depict the emotions, the anguish and fear, of Adam and Eve as they leave the Garden of Eden. Eve seems to not fully grasp that yet and looks appealingly towards the angel while Adam has already given up and pulls Eve along with him. We can visually see this because of the diagonal line she makes towards the angel, while Adam's body leans diagonally towards the outside world.

Religion and Spirituality