Artwork
Expulsion of Adam and Eve
Expulsion of Adam and Eve is an oil painting by the Mannerist artist Pontormo. It dates from 1535 and is held in the collection of the Uffizi Gallery.
About this work
Pontormo’s *Expulsion of Adam and Eve* is an oil painting on panel. It shows the moment after Adam and Eve leave Paradise. The scene feels tense and full of emotion.
The Uffizi dates it around 1535. It’s a small but powerful work. A drawing study survives too, kept in the same museum.
This piece sits in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Check out the Uffizi Gallery next.
Overview
Pontormo’s *Expulsion of Adam and Eve* is an oil painting executed on a wooden panel. The work portrays the biblical moment when the first humans are driven out of the Garden of Eden, capturing a charged atmosphere of loss and displacement. Measuring modestly, the composition is housed in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, where it forms part of the museum’s Renaissance holdings.
Subject & Meaning
The scene depicts Adam and Eve immediately after their departure from Paradise, emphasizing their physical and emotional separation from the divine realm. Their gestures and expressions convey a mixture of remorse, bewilderment, and the nascent awareness of mortality, reflecting the theological narrative of original sin and its consequences for humanity.
Technique & Style
Executed in oil on panel, Pontormo employs a luminous palette and elongated figures characteristic of his later Mannerist approach. The brushwork balances delicate modeling with a heightened sense of drama, while the spatial arrangement compresses the landscape, drawing focus to the figures’ intertwined bodies and the stark, barren surroundings that replace the lush garden.
History & Provenance
A preparatory drawing for the composition survives in the museum’s Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe, confirming Pontormo’s iterative process.
The painting’s creation date remains debated, with scholars proposing a range from the early 1510s to the early 1540s; the Uffizi presently assigns it to circa 1535. A preparatory drawing for the composition survives in the museum’s Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe, confirming Pontormo’s iterative process. The work has been part of the Uffizi’s collection since the 18th century, where it remains on display.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Jacopo Carucci or Carrucci (IPA: ; May 24, 1494 – January 2, 1557), usually known as Jacopo (da) Pontormo or simply Pontormo (IPA: ), was an Italian Mannerist painter and portraitist from the Florentine School.
