Paradise Series #1: Eve With Fish and Snake

1970

American, 1938-1990

Joan Brown’s work often contains personal symbolic elements, along with more universal mythologies. In this painting of the biblical figure of Eve, Brown portrays her standing alone—without her male counterpart, Adam. Typically vilified for eating the forbidden fruit and causing humankind to be expelled from the Garden of Eden, Eve disregards the serpent at her feet that would lead her to the tempting fruit, resetting the narrative for the first woman. The fish in her hands is a recurring symbol in Brown’s work; it may be a reference to the artist’s lifelong love of water and competitive swimming, suggesting a kinship between herself and Eve.

Oil on masonite

96 x 48 in. (243.84 x 121.92 cm)

Anonymous gift

88.128

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistoryBerkeley, California, University of California, Berkeley Art Museum, Transformation: The Art of Joan Brown, Sept. 26, 1998 - Jan. 17, 1999.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, First Person Singular, May 31, 2001 - Mar. 17, 2002.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Black Art II, Nov. 21, 2008 - Mar. 15, 2009.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Poke in the Eye: Art of the West Coast Counterculture, June 21 - September 2, 2024.

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

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