The Sin (German: Die Sünde) is an 1893 painting by the German artist Franz Stuck. It depicts a nude Eve with a large serpent wrapped around her body. In the upper right corner is a bright field, while the rest of the surroundings are dark.
The motif was conceived as a development of Stuck's 1889 painting Sensuality (Die Sinnlichkeit). The Sin was first exhibited in 1893, at the inaugural exhibition of the Munich Secession, where it caused a sensation. It was bought by the Neue Pinakothek in Munich and became a critical and commercial breakthrough for Stuck. It has since become an emblematic painting for the symbolist movement.
Stuck created twelve known versions of the painting. Some of these can be viewed at the Neue Pinakothek in Munich, the National Gallery in Berlin, the Galleria di arte Moderna in Palermo, the Frye Art Museum in Seattle, and at the Villa Stuck in Munich, where it is enshrined in the artist's Künstleraltar.
It's one of the first paintings of the Symbolist Movement, an artistic current that focuses on the interior self by its very design.
The Sin provides examples of:
- Adaptational Villainy: Eve's sin is portrayed as less of a mistake born from curiosity and more as actually wanting to embrace corruption. Evil Feels Good for her, so she's now The Corrupter, tempting other people with her sexual allure and carrying the Embodiment of Vice as if it were her pet.
- Allegory: As a whole, the painting is meant to symbolize the nature of sin. For that purpose, it presents us with two characters: a woman and a snake curled on her body. The woman's nude physique acts as a lure to the viewer while the snake is ready to strike, partially hidden in her hair and shadows. This is symbolic of the nature of sin; an attractive thing that tempts you into accepting it, only to corrupt and poison you. Additionally, the woman is Eve (the first person in the Abrahamic religions to accept sin) and the snake is Satan (who tempted her to commit it).
- Biblical Bad Guy: The woman is Eve who, in the Abrahamic religions, is responsible for introducing original sin to mankind. Here, she has accepted it so thoroughly, she's tempting the viewer.
- Chiaroscuro: The intense juxtaposition of Eve's white skin and the black of the snakes and the shadows are meant to emphasize Eve's attractive form as the snake hides in the darkness, ready to strike.
- Dark Is Evil: The Obviously Evil snake is black and dark-grey that blends into the darkness of Eve's hair and the shadow she is hiding in.
- Embodiment of Vice: As the name implies, the figure is meant to act as an embodiment of sin as a concept. While it is meant to represent sin in general, emphasis can be placed on Lust since the lightning draws attention to Eve's breasts and navel.
- Femme Fatale: The Femme Fatale is an archetype that was commonly used by the Symbolists. Here, Eve is portrayed almost Lilith-like in how the shadows frame her as this voluptuous lure of physical delights, a far cry from the passive waif Abrahamic art usually portrays her as.
- Satan: The snake is the Devil in disguise, the beast that introduced and tempted Eve into committing the original sin.
- Serpent of Immortality: Inverted as the devil serpent's temptation is what causes Adam and Even to be cast from an immortal life of prosperity.
- Snakes Are Sinister: Considering it is the snake that first tempted Eve in Genesis, the snake is Obviously Evil in design.
- Snakes Are Sexy: Draped over Eve's breasts, the seduction angle of the story is prevalent in the piece.
