Women in Mourning: "Expulsion from the Garden of Eden", Masaccio, 1425

Introduction

Artists have been using women in mourning for centuries as a way to express their grief towards society. Many ongoing factors can lead to tears from a woman, but it is the act of mourning that really represents that something is truly wrong. The act of mourning touches the sympathy in everyone. When women cry, it can be with tears of sadness or happiness, but when women mourn, they are expressing their deepest sorrow.By using women in mourning as a means to provoke sympathy from the people, artists are able to send clearer messages of the true meaning behind their artwork.The five art pieces that I are very different in the fact that the women are grieving over something different. For example, Eve from The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden is crying over being kicked out of the Garden of Eden while the woman in Misery by Kathe Kollwitz is mourning over her dead child.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

"Expulsion from the Garden of Eden", Masaccio, 1425

The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, or simply Expulsion, was painted as a fresco in the Brancacci Chapel by the Italian painter Masaccio during the early 15^th century. Masaccio was part of a large group of Italian Renaissance painters, so his artwork was based upon the humanist studies. The fresco was damaged in the 18^th century when the chapel was undergoing construction. (Web Gallery of Art) The painting depicts one of the most popular stories from the Bible: the day that Adam and Eve sin after eating from the Tree of Knowledge and are expelled from the Garden of Eden. In the fresco, Adam and Eve are not only obviously in a lot of pain and experiencing remorse but there is also an angel with a sword—making sure Adam and Eve do not return back.

Stylistically, Masaccio uses many different types of art techniques to bring out as much human emotion as possible from Adam and Eve. When Masaccio painted this masterpiece, he focused more on Adam and Eve using their body language and facial expressions to show their anguish as opposed to the obvious punishment they have just received from God ( Encyclopedia Britannica). Masaccio wanted to establish a emotional connection between the viewer and the figures (“Western Painting,” Encyclopedia Britannica). Masaccio allows Adam and Eve to appear more 3D and human-like by using chiaroscuro. He also made it more dramatic by painting with dramatic strokes (“Masaccio,” Encyclopedia Britannica). Masaccio allows Adam to have some dignity through the use of Adam’s body placement. Compared to Eve, Adam is not afraid of what his body looks like and while he does look sad, he does not look as remorseful as Eve. On the other hand, Eve looks like she “bears all of the suffering in the world” (Web Gallery of Art). Her hands cover the most private parts of her body while her face expresses not only in sadness but extreme pain. Masaccio further emphasizes the dark mood of his painting by using few and very plain colors. The use of colors creates a dreary look for the fresco. The towering angel also stands out with the use of red, the only bright color in the painting. Through the use of different facial expressions, body language, and color, Masaccio creates a pitiful image of two people’s tragic fates.

Eve’s emotion in “Expulsion” ties into the theme, “Women in Mourning” because of how she is reacting to her predicament. Not only are her facial features in distress, but her body language also shows that she is in remorse. Masaccio also makes Eve look like the important figure in the picture by having Adam cover his face, the place where viewers can truly tell what a person is feeling. In the painting, Eve is obviously mourning her fate. Eve is considered the true sinner in Christian for convincing Adam to eat the forbidden fruit. As a result, Eve must be faced with the punishment of painful childbirth and becoming the lesser of the two sexes. Adam’s punishment was simply expulsion, so Masaccio painted him as less distressed than Eve. Expulsion sets itself apart from the other paintings of “Women in Mourning” by being the only painting where the artist is not trying to suggest an injustice in society. Instead, the woman is mourning over her own mistakes.

1 comment:

UnknownJuly 7, 2016 at 9:22 PM
I am a veteran Irish-American painter and have started a 5 canvas series on Genesis. One of the events I will paint is the Expulsion From The Garden.
After going to the Scriptures to read the account, I realized Masaccio and quite a few Renaissance painters got it wrong.
Whoever covered Adam's genitalia later was closer to the account than Masaccio as it clearly states that " ...the Lord God did make coats of skins and clothed them..." Gen.3:21
Also 4 verses later it plainly says there were more than 1 Angel "...he placed...Cherubims" plural form.
Granted that the average person during the early Renaissance did not have access to the Scriptures, the painters especially in Italy did and compared to the average citizen were well-educated.
So what do you folks think? Regards Thom Joyce
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Want to know more?

Head on over to Lauren H's Silence in Art. Similar to women in mourning, artists used silence as a way to signify that there is something wrong in their society. Lauren's blog contains another art piece by Kathe Kollwitz called "Die Uberlendendem", or "Survivor". Kollqitz uses her distinctive artistic style to paint silenced children. By having silenced children, it represents how the government has taken away the basic freedoms of the people: signifying that there is something wrong in the society."Speechless" by Shirin Neshat is also found in both of our blogs. Lauren describes Neshat's picture as a silent girl "showing compliance to the government". Similarly, I described the girl as showing submission through the tears that brim to bottom of her eyes. With two different themes, Silence in Art and Women in Mourning, Lauren and I were able to reach the same conclusion: artists use are to describe the corruption of society.

STILL want to know more???

Don't worry, John G's "Loneliness in Art" is another amazing blog you can visit that relates to "Women in Mourning". While John's Blog does not involve any women, the loneliness that is represented through the pieces of art reverberates a sense of mourning. For example, John has the painting, "At Eternity's Gate" in his blog. It shows a man sitting alone in a chair with his head buried into his hands. According to John, the man reflects the loneliness and depression Van Gogh felt. Because of loneliness, the man in the picture is also mourning. The way that the man has his face buried into his hands is also similar to Adam in "Expulsion from the Garden of Eden" by Masaccio. Although Adam is experiencing regret and sadness from being expelled from the Garden of Eve and not loneliness, he still has the same mourning reaction as the man mourning over loneliness. While women are the commonly used figure to symbolize mourning, artists can also use men in mourning as a way to project their despair towards themselves, nature, or society.