Week 3 Story: The Creation of The Fall

The Fall of Man by Michelangelo - Source: Wiki Images

And I thought, "I shall depict both scenarios in my painting. One of temptation and one of protection."

So I painted a tree as the focal point. The branches would represent good and evil.

On the left I painted a serpent man, calling out to Eve, tempting her to join him in the knowledge of good and evil. On the right I painted an angel, guarding Adam and Eve from the tree. I debated placing a sword in her hand, for most angels are not thought of with a sword, but in the end decide it was appropriate. I gave her a soft face, one that a loving mother would give a son after he made a mistake.

Now I need to paint Adam and Eve on each side. In the light I painted Adam first. To keep in context of the story, he would need to be naked, but not ashamed of his appearance. I painted the sword the angel was holding up to Adam's next. Adam's face showed a look of remorse as his head turned away from the tree. I painted his arms stretched out towards the tree as though he was telling it to stop tempting him and his wife.

Like the Biblical story, I created Eve after Adam. I took the wet paint from Adam's torso and used it to paint life into Eve, for I knew it was not good for Adam to be alone. I painted her darker, for she was hiding behind Adam, who was shielding her from the angel's sword. I decide to paint a look of guilt on her face.

On the opposite side, I painted Eve first. Her hand reaching out towards the serpent man. I painted a look of longing on her face. I then painted Adam, who was not trying to stop Eve as she was tempted towards the forbidden tree. I tinted all of the colors on the left side darker to represent the darkness of disobeying God.

When I looked at my final image, I was content and I rested. I knew what I made was good. The picture displayed the forces of good and evil in this world without the consequences.

Author's Note: In the biblical creation story, God is creating the world and everything in it. The story we read focuses more on the creation of man and woman. God first created man, who he called Adam. He then put Adam in a deep sleep and removed one of his rips to create woman, whom God called Eve. I thought it would be fun to do a spin off of this story from Michelangelo's point of view as he painted the famous "The Fall of Man" which resides in the Sistine Chapel.

Bibliography: The Creation Genesis 1-2, King James Bible




Comments

  1. I really like the twist you took! I have been to the Sistine Chapel and it was absolutely magnificent. As I was walking through I did think to myself what ideas and thoughts would going through an artists head as they were coming up with the idea of the painting as well as when they were executing the painting. I am not artistic at all so I cannot relate to their thought process but it would be interesting to speak to someone like Michelangelo about their paintings.

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  2. Hi Elizabeth!
    I really like what you did with this story. I have never read the bible, and so this is one thing that I hope to read this semester in this class regarding biblical figures. This is all new to me, but what you did with the story was a great twist. The author's note really helped me put things into perspective as to the origin of the story, and how you made it different. Great job!

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