The Seventh Day
Object numberM2025/082:002
TitleThe Seventh Day
Creator Perle Hessing (artist)
DescriptionPerle Hessing, The Seventh Day, Oil on canvas, signed and dated 1966.
The painting depicts naked Adam and Eve by a flowing river surrounded by a variety of animals - deer, gazelles, camels, oxen, leopards, monkeys, goats, lions, peacocks, parrots, rabbits, cats, tortoises, and an elephant: Predators and prey peacefully coexisting. The water teems with fish and birds. In the sky, two large divine hands reach down from opposite corners, accompanied by angels and brightly coloured birds in flight. The mountainous background glows in purples and oranges.
The artist describes this painting: "This is the day after God finished his work of creating the world, when he found the result good and blessed it. The corn is a sign that God has given fertility and prosperity so that all creatures and people may eat. The owl, King of the Birds, is a symbol of wisdom. Hovering beside Eve is a suggestion of stories that have been told about the serpent in the Garden of Eden actually being a human being."
The narrative is a visualisation from Genesis - the Creation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The abundance of flora and fauna illustrates the completeness of God’s creation before the Fall. The two prominent trees, one laden with fruit, the other pink blossoms, evokes the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge. Eve’s proximity to the fruit tree and the serpent-like figure foreshadows the biblical temptation.
Self-taught, naive-style painter, Perle Hessing, draws on her Jewish faith, childhood memories, and personal story of survival. Born in 1908 in Poland, later settling in Australia in 1951, she began painting in her fifties, encouraged by Desiderius Orban (1884-1986), a Hungarian-Australian painter and art teacher. Her work is inspired by biblical stories from the Old Testament, folklore of shtetl life, Jewish rituals, as well as lived experience as a migrant. Her art is symbolic, blending narrative with personal and collective memory. Perle is the mother of artist Leonard Hessing (1931-2004), who was part of Australia's abstract expressionists. Keen to see how he might succeed in Europe, he ended up in London. She moved to the UK in circa 1973 where she died in 2001. In 2023, a collection of 24 paintings was generously donated to the Sydney Jewish Museum by her grandson, Theo Hessing.
The painting depicts naked Adam and Eve by a flowing river surrounded by a variety of animals - deer, gazelles, camels, oxen, leopards, monkeys, goats, lions, peacocks, parrots, rabbits, cats, tortoises, and an elephant: Predators and prey peacefully coexisting. The water teems with fish and birds. In the sky, two large divine hands reach down from opposite corners, accompanied by angels and brightly coloured birds in flight. The mountainous background glows in purples and oranges.
The artist describes this painting: "This is the day after God finished his work of creating the world, when he found the result good and blessed it. The corn is a sign that God has given fertility and prosperity so that all creatures and people may eat. The owl, King of the Birds, is a symbol of wisdom. Hovering beside Eve is a suggestion of stories that have been told about the serpent in the Garden of Eden actually being a human being."
The narrative is a visualisation from Genesis - the Creation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The abundance of flora and fauna illustrates the completeness of God’s creation before the Fall. The two prominent trees, one laden with fruit, the other pink blossoms, evokes the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge. Eve’s proximity to the fruit tree and the serpent-like figure foreshadows the biblical temptation.
Self-taught, naive-style painter, Perle Hessing, draws on her Jewish faith, childhood memories, and personal story of survival. Born in 1908 in Poland, later settling in Australia in 1951, she began painting in her fifties, encouraged by Desiderius Orban (1884-1986), a Hungarian-Australian painter and art teacher. Her work is inspired by biblical stories from the Old Testament, folklore of shtetl life, Jewish rituals, as well as lived experience as a migrant. Her art is symbolic, blending narrative with personal and collective memory. Perle is the mother of artist Leonard Hessing (1931-2004), who was part of Australia's abstract expressionists. Keen to see how he might succeed in Europe, he ended up in London. She moved to the UK in circa 1973 where she died in 2001. In 2023, a collection of 24 paintings was generously donated to the Sydney Jewish Museum by her grandson, Theo Hessing.
Production date 1966
Object namepaintings
Dimensions
- width: 1210.00 mm
height: 900.00 mm
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum collection, donated by Theo Hessing.
In appreciation to the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) for supporting this archival project.