The Expulsion from Paradise

The work titled The Expulsion from Paradise is a woodcut on laid paper created in 1510 by Albrecht Dürer. It entered the collection of Joseph Daniel Böhm in Vienna and later passed to Robert Scholtz in Budapest before being acquired by William Schab in New York. In 1940 it was purchased by Lessing J. Rosenwald in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, and subsequently gifted to the National Gallery of Art in 1943.

The piece is part of the Rosenwald Collection and is held today by the National Gallery of Art, the Musée des Beaux-Arts de la ville de Paris, and the Museum of Fine Arts Ghent. Its creation falls within the German Renaissance movement and depicts the biblical fall of man as described in the Old Testament. The dimensions are 12.5 cm in height and 9.8 cm in width, and it was produced as part of Dürer’s Little Passion series.

The dating of the print is anchored to 1510, with inception recorded between 1509 and 1510, reflecting its place within Dürer’s early graphic work. The subject matter aligns with religious art of the period, emphasizing the expulsion from paradise as a theological narrative. The work’s provenance is documented through multiple owners, confirming its movement across European and American collections before institutional acquisition. Its inclusion in major museum inventories underscores its significance within Dürer’s oeuvre and the broader print tradition.

The woodcut is held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., as part of the Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection. It entered the NGA in 1943 as a gift from Lessing J. Rosenwald, who had purchased it in 1940 through William Schab of New York. Earlier provenance traces the impression to Robert Scholtz in Budapest and before that to Joseph Daniel Böhm in Vienna.

According to Wikidata, impressions of the print are also located at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de la ville de Paris and the Museum of Fine Arts Ghent (MSK). No exhibition history is documented in the provided sources.

The work is recognized as a pivotal religious print within the German Renaissance, exemplifying Dürer's mastery of woodcut technique and his deep engagement with biblical narrative. Its depiction of the expulsion from Eden draws directly on Old Testament themes and has been studied for its compositional precision and symbolic intensity. The print's provenance, traced through collectors such as Joseph Daniel Böhm and Robert Scholtz, culminated in its acquisition by the National Gallery of Art in 1943, underscoring its enduring scholarly and institutional significance.

Albrecht Dürer's 'The Expulsion from Paradise' is a woodcut executed in 1510, depicting the biblical narrative of Adam and Eve's banishment from Eden. The composition features the couple driven forward by a winged angel wielding a flaming sword. Eve is portrayed with a distinct expression of anguish, turning her head back toward the lost paradise, while Adam strides forward yet casts an upward glance at the divine messenger.

Dürer utilizes the woodcut medium to achieve remarkable tonal variation and linear precision, characteristic of his mature printmaking style. The artist employs dense cross-hatching and varied line weights to model the figures' anatomy and the surrounding foliage, creating a sense of volume and dramatic movement within a two-dimensional plane. This work exemplifies Dürer's synthesis of Northern European detail with Italian Renaissance principles of proportion and perspective.

Created during a period when the artist was refining his printmaking techniques to reach a broader European audience, the piece stands as a significant contribution to religious iconography of the German Renaissance. It demonstrates his ability to convey complex emotional states and theological themes through the stark contrast of black and white ink on laid paper.