Copy painting on canvas of the artwork
Eve and the Serpent (Rousseau)

Henri Rousseau revisits the biblical theme of Eve in the Garden of Eden by transposing it into one of his lush and imaginary jungle settings. Eve, depicted nude with long brown hair, stands amidst dense and stylized vegetation. Her posture is hieratic, almost frozen, and her expression is devoid of guilt. Beside her, a brightly colored serpent is coiled around the trunk of a tree, offering her the forbidden fruit. The scene, bathed in a strange light, does not exude an atmosphere of drama or sin, but rather a kind of primitive serenity. For Rousseau, the Garden of Eden is a place of exuberant and innocent nature. He paints less the Fall of Man than a personal and poetic vision of original harmony, a timeless Eve in a dreamed-of vegetal paradise.