Expulsion from the Garden of Eden

The canvas depicts the biblical moment when Adam and Eve are driven from Paradise, rendered as a dramatic landscape that juxtaposes a luminous, verdant garden with a stark, rugged wilderness beyond. The composition emphasizes the loss of innocence and the transition from a harmonious world to one of exile and hardship.

Executed in oil, the painting showcases Cole’s early adoption of the sweeping vistas and atmospheric light that would become hallmarks of the Hudson River School. He employs a muted palette for the distant terrain while using brighter tones to highlight the garden, creating a visual contrast that underscores the narrative tension.

Created shortly after Cole’s arrival in the United States, the work entered the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston’s holdings in the early 20th century and has remained on view there ever since. Its placement in the Waleska Evans James Gallery reflects the museum’s focus on early American landscape painting.

Cole, an English‑born artist who emigrated to America, is credited with founding the Hudson River School, a movement that celebrated the nation’s natural scenery. Expulsion from the Garden of Eden illustrates his interest in combining religious narrative with the American wilderness, a theme he would revisit throughout his career.