Adam and Eve Driven out of Eden
Gustave Doré, 1866 · Genesis 3:24
The passage
So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
Genesis 3:24
About this plate
Two things happen at once here, and Doré sets them on a diagonal. Top left, an angel stands on a rise with wings spread and a blade held point-down, blazing light behind him coming through the trees. Bottom right, Adam and Eve walk away downhill, Eve pressed into Adam's side with her head bowed against him.
The ground carries the argument. Behind them the growth is thick and wet — palms, broad leaves, a closed canopy. In front of them the foreground is a tangle of dead branches and bare thorn, drawn with exactly the care he gave the garden. There is no gate and no wall between the two. He simply changes what grows.
The verse names cherubim and a flaming sword which turned every way. Doré gives one figure and one blade, held still and lowered. The turning is left out. What he draws instead is the angel's stance — feet planted, weapon down, no pursuit. The expulsion is already over. Nobody is being chased.
Eve's face is hidden against Adam's shoulder. His is not.
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