Adam and Eve

Baldung Grien's Adam and Eve from 1507 is an early treatment of the subject he would return to throughout his career, combining the theological narrative of the Fall with his characteristic interest in the human body as a vehicle for exploring themes of sexuality, death, and spiritual vulnerability. Baldung's Adam and Eve figures are distinctive for their combination of classical beauty with a quality of nervous unease — the body's beauty made suspect by its susceptibility to sin and mortality. His treatment reflects the influence of Dürer's famous Adam and Eve engravings while moving in a more psychologically disturbing direction, anticipating the explicit sexuality and morbidity of his later representations of the nude female figure.

The elongated, pale figures display Baldung's characteristic departure from classical proportions, with the vivid green foliage and the sinuous serpent creating a sensually charged composition.