Expulsion from Paradise 1524 - 1538

Curator: This striking engraving is titled "Expulsion from Paradise" created by Hans Holbein the Younger, sometime between 1524 and 1538. The piece resides here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: My immediate reaction is one of stark contrast and chaos! The light and dark areas are so intensely opposed, the expulsion seems violent and traumatic. Curator: Absolutely. Holbein, working in the Northern Renaissance tradition, utilizes specific symbols and imagery to express this dramatic narrative. Observe the angel wielding a sword, driving Adam and Eve out, while a skeleton, symbolizing death, looms. What emotions do you believe these symbols evoked for viewers of the time? Editor: For a 16th-century audience, steeped in religious doctrine, the angel clearly embodies divine justice and wrath, its wings a well-worn motif. However, I am particularly interested in the depiction of the skeleton, or death. Is this also a commentary on human fragility following original sin? Is this a depiction of social death or physical? Curator: Exactly. Considering this from a modern, intersectional perspective, the implications expand further. The expulsion isn't just about divine punishment but about the loss of innocence, the birth of societal structures, and the initial subjugation. The image can be seen to reflect issues of gender, power, and even colonization. How interesting. Editor: Holbein uses the convention of linear perspective but there's an overall feeling of tension and crowdedness here. The way the forms are jammed together reinforces the idea of their constricted, vulnerable state after this cataclysmic shift in fortune. Even the landscape seems barren and unforgiving! Curator: Notice, also, how Adam and Eve are depicted. Though nude, their shame is apparent. The poses they strike embody guilt and despair. Editor: The stark, unforgiving contrast mirrors the irrevocable loss. What are the potential psychological impacts of these images from our contemporary perspective? I ask myself that always. Curator: I believe revisiting such a loaded moment from our collective history is a chance to deconstruct narratives of power, shame, and obedience, and consider how these themes perpetuate themselves in the modern day. Editor: An eternal theme with endless symbolic possibility. It is truly interesting how artistic approaches shape meaning.