The Fall of Man
1807
watercolor
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
1807
watercolor
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
The Fall of Man is a 1807 watercolor by William Blake, a Romanticism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This painting shows a chaotic, dreamlike scene packed with figures. At the center, two naked people stand in a bright, open space, surrounded by trees. Above them, a dark, swirling mass of faces and hands reaches down like a storm. Around the edges, more figures climb, float, or seem trapped in the tangled lines. The colors are mostly soft grays and browns, but some faces and clouds glow with pink or red. The two central figures look calm compared to the wild chaos around them. The artist used loose, sketchy lines to make everything feel alive and unstable. Look up Romanticism next to see how this wild style fits into the movement.
