Oil on canvas
198 x 288 cm

For Chagall, Paradise conjures up a place of intimacy where all of Creation – man, beast and all sorts of hybrid figures – live in harmony side by side amidst lush vegetation and water highlighted by green and blue tones. Just the right amount of areas of colour ensures a balanced composition.
Designed to be a diptych, this painting presents the creation of Eve and Temptation.
On the left, above Adam who is sitting cross-legged with his arm over his head to make his rib more accessible, God is depicted by a white cloud, a sort of mysterious cocoon accentuating the prodigy of creation, out of which Eve is rising in a position of modesty.
On the right, the primordial couple, entwined to become one with only two arms and three legs as Chagall commonly portrayed them, are getting ready to share the forbidden fruit – that of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which will make them God’s equals.