Expelled from Paradise
Object numberM2025/082:006
TitleExpelled from Paradise
Creator Perle Hessing (artist)
DescriptionPerle Hessing, Expelled from Paradise, Oil on canvas, unsigned, undated.
In this painting, Hessing presents a naive-style vision of Adam and Eve at the moment of their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. The couple walk hand in hand across a rocky stream, surrounded by lush vegetation and a menagerie of animals. Eve's garment has slipped exposing a breast. She balances a woven basket overflowing with apples and other fruits on her head. Adam, dressed in a robe guides their path while holding onto a goat. An angel hovers above, pointing a sword (?) in the direction of their movement. A coiled serpent is among the plants. Expelled from Paradise draws from the Genesis narrative of Adam and Eve's banishment after eating the forbidden fruit. Hessing seems to replace the despair and shame often depicted in this subject with a more folkloric interpretation, as if to suggest that traces of paradise remain even in exile.
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.
In this painting, Hessing presents a naive-style vision of Adam and Eve at the moment of their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. The couple walk hand in hand across a rocky stream, surrounded by lush vegetation and a menagerie of animals. Eve's garment has slipped exposing a breast. She balances a woven basket overflowing with apples and other fruits on her head. Adam, dressed in a robe guides their path while holding onto a goat. An angel hovers above, pointing a sword (?) in the direction of their movement. A coiled serpent is among the plants. Expelled from Paradise draws from the Genesis narrative of Adam and Eve's banishment after eating the forbidden fruit. Hessing seems to replace the despair and shame often depicted in this subject with a more folkloric interpretation, as if to suggest that traces of paradise remain even in exile.
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.
SubjectJewish life, Jewish artists, , family life
Object namepaintings
Dimensions
- width: 430.00 mm
height: 680.00 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.