art.wikisort.org - Painting

Adam and Eve is an oil on canvas painting by French artist Suzanne Valadon, executed in 1909. Its dimensions are 162 by 131 cm. It is held at the Centre Georges Pompidou, in Paris.[1]

Adam and Eve
Artist	Suzanne Valadon
Year	1909 (1909)
Medium	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	162 cm × 131 cm (64 in × 52 in)
Location	Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris

History and description

Valadon was in a romantic relationship with the painter André Utter, who was 24 years younger, when she created this painting, in a time of great productive activity. She depicts herself and Utter as Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden on this painting. The original canvas showed Utter completely nude, but the artist decided to add the leaves covering his genitals to allow her work to be exhibited at the Salon in 1920.

This is the first painting that Valadon created depicting an outdoors scene. It is also believed to have been the first painting by a female artist portraying a nude couple that was exhibited publicly. The couple was the painter herself, appearing younger than she was at the time, with her male lover. In the painting Eve reaches happily for the apple, while she is entwined with Adam. There is no serpent in the painting. It can be interpreted as a metaphor for Valadon's relationship with a younger man, as if it was the forbidden fruit.[2]

According to biographer Catherine Hewitt: "The couple, Suzanne confessed, were caught in a timeless paradise and they were both responsible for their sin".[3]

References

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