Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden - Masaccio

Fresco painting by Masaccio in the Brancacci Chapel in the church of Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence. The fresco depicts Adam and Eve being cast out of the Garden of Eden by an angel after disobeying God. The painting with its display of anguish and movement was a break for the static pictorial style of medieval art and as such the beginning of the Renaissance movement. The shadows in the painting fall to the left which aligns with the actual light coming from the chapel's window.

Adam, on the left, covers his face with his hands in a gesture of shame and despair. Eve, on the right, raises one hand to her face and the other to cover her body, her mouth open in a cry of anguish. Above them, an angel with a flaming sword hovers, gesturing forcefully toward the exit — symbolizing divine judgment and banishment. The archway at the left marks the boundary of Eden; beyond it is a barren, rocky landscape, symbolizing the harsh world they are entering.

Masaccio’s use of light and shadow (chiaroscuro) gives the figures a three-dimensional solidity. a hallmark of the early Renaissance. The emotional realism is striking: Adam’s shame and Eve’s grief are rendered with raw humanity, a departure from the more stylized medieval depictions. The anatomy of both figures reflects Masaccio’s study of classical sculpture and human form, contributing to the Renaissance’s revival of naturalism. and the angel’s dynamic pose and the diagonal composition enhance the sense of movement and drama in the scene.

The fresco captures the moment of loss and suffering that defines the human condition after the Fall. The nudity emphasizes vulnerability and mortality, now stripped of divine grace. The contrast between the divine light around the angel and the shadow over Adam and Eve reinforces the separation between heaven and the fallen world.

Some 300 years after this was painted, Cosimo III de' Medici ordered fig leaves to be painted over the figures to hide their nudity. These additions were removed when the paintings were restored in the 1980s.