Eve Tempted

Adopted by David Pike

Watts adopts the traditional format of a triptych, or three-part image, to tell his own version of the biblical story of Eve. In the central picture, the first woman is created in an explosion of life and colour, her figure soaring as she transforms into flesh. To the left, Eve is tempted by a serpent-like Satan to taste the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden.

On the right, having given in to temptation, the repentant Eve turns her head away in shame. In theology, this act of original sin is said to have brought sexual shame and death upon humanity. Watts described how, in his final scene, Eve is ‘restored to beauty and nobility by remorse’.