The garden of Eden
from Genesis
Oil on canvas 100x50x4
The composition is inspired by the Book of Genesis - (genesis 2.9) and is divided into four main sections:
- on the left side, the tree of knowledge of good and evil is represented with white (good) and black (evil) fruits. Around the tree there is a snake, a symbol of deception, and two other reptile-like beings who face the in a continuous struggle between good and evil, one to defend, the other to steal, a fertile egg.
- on the right side is the tree of life from which man could bear fruit without committing sin and live in eternal peace. It includes a water path, since from the garden, geographically hypothesized to the east of Israel, a river emerged which was then divided into four river branches: the Pison, the Ghihon, the Tigris and the Euphfrates.
- the Central part is compose of a luminous circle that expresses the divine light, which descwends into the composition until it wraps Adam and Eve placed lower.
Adam takes the colors of the river (purity of the water and acquatico life forms similar to fish), while Eve, who accepts the forbidden fruit from the snake, even takes its appearance. Above the stylized heads of Adam and Eve we can see a "Y" a letter used in late antiquity and in medieval literature to indicate the choices to which ma is called in his existence, to distinguish the crossroads between vices and virtues, between life and death.
- the lower part, transversal to the whole picture, represents the Garden in its floral variety.