The Genesis Gallery

Welcome to our virtual art gallery of paintings related to the Genesis narrative. From Adam and Eve to the tower of Babel, these are some of the most stunning works of art depicting events from Genesis 1-11. This artwork is not just used throughout the website; it is also compiled here in a virtual museum of art. These are definitely some of the most beautiful masterpieces ever painted. With historical art like this, it is no wonder famous atheist Richard Dawkins calls himself a "cultural Christian"! 

Thank you for stopping by. Enjoy the art!

(All paintings are public domain and attained via wikimedia commons, unless otherwise specified).

Chapter 1: Paradise

Creation began as a paradise. Genesis records that God looked upon His creation and saw that is was "very good." In Genesis 2, He places Adam in a garden within His good creation. Plants were given as food for all animals. The first man, Adam, is placed there to live, presumably immortal, as God's image-bearer and representative. As a sign of his given dominion, Adam names the animals. But while each kind of animal has its mate, no suitable partner can be found for him. The first and only thing creation lacks is woman. God forms Eve from Adam's rib, and the two first humans dwelled in paradise together.

The Christian church has understood this story to be a true historical account for a majority of its own history. It is God's explanation for the origin of the world, given to Moses on Mt. Sinai as part of the Torah. Christians long accepted this story to be literally true. These paintings spanning centuries are a testament to traditional Christian theology. They may not be biologically accurate according to current creationist thinking, but they remain stunning depictions of a Bible story that should never have been removed from the list of Biblical narratives that Christians almost universally agree are true history.

Chapter 2: Expulsion

No one knows how long the world was a paradise. But sometime after creation, Eve is tempted by the mysterious serpent, who has long been thought to be spiritually possessed by Satan. God had forbidden them to eat of the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge; an important act that preserves the free will of God's image-bearers. Eve falls for the serpent's lies and eats first, but Adam was with her when she ate and accepted the forbidden fruit as well. His complicity earns him primary blame throughout the Biblical narrative, as the apostle Paul himself references Adam's sin, not Eve's, as the origin of all death. 

"Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all man because all sinned--for sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgressions of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come." (Romans 5:12-14) 

Adam and Eve's shame leads to the first clothes worn. The first instance of animal death in the Bible is God using skins to clothe them. Satan is cursed, Adam and Eve are condemned to suffer in their toils, whether that be physical labor (man) or childbirth (woman). They are cast from the garden to make a life for themselves elsewhere. Their offspring are given no choice in paradise but are now born with sinful desires already ingrained in their being. Thus, both natural and moral evil find their footing in the world after the Fall of Man. A stumbling block of some today is the injustice of condemning the many for the sins of one. But this is not the end of the story.

"But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many." (Romans 5:15)

Chapter 3: Deluge

The moral evil that began with Adam spreads across the world. God looks upon his creation, sees the corruption, and regrets making mankind. He must begin anew, wiping out the world He had made to shape a new earth. By association, the animals too must be judged for the sins of their stewards.

"And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way on earth."

But a remnant of the pre-flood world must survive. One man alone finds "grace in the eyes of the Lord." It is before the great catastrophe of judgement that God establishes a covenant with the only righteous man: Noah. This promise gives confidence to Noah and his family that they are not forgotten; instead, they are the future of the human race, and their cargo is the future of the natural world.

Chapter 4: Hope

The wrath of God prevailed for one hundred and fifty days. Then, supernaturally, God stops the flood. As Christ will later do to storms on the sea of Galilea, God silences the storm by sending a wind asswage the waters and closes the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven. The ark settles on Mount Ararat, with its passengers safe, alive, and remembered.

"And God spake unto Noah, saying, 'Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons wives with thee."

A new world awaits them. Their first act of Noah as steward of the new creation is to build an altar to God. The covenant is alive, and now God adds to His promises. Never again will He destroy all living things or curse the earth for the transgressions of men, for "the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." He places the rainbow in the sky as a reminder of his words and a symbol of the covenant. The future is a brighter one, and God does more than promise His own restraint. He promises preservation:

"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."

To the survivors of the flood, God gives a new instruction; one that echoes His own words from creation: "be ye fruitful and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein." From Ararat, the world begins anew as land-dwelling animals heed the words of their creator and spread across a reshaped world.

Chapter 5: Rebellion

As humans multiply, they return full circle back to rebellion. Instead of heeding God's instruction to spread, they gather in one place to build a tower that will reach the heavens. As their ancestors did only a few generations before them, they wanted to be like God.

This action catches the attention of the Lord, who "came down to see the city and the tower." His image-bearers and representatives have fled from their duty to the Lord, instead desiring that "which they have imagined."

The city and the tower is not to be. By confusing the languages of the people, God decisively forces them to disperse and spread, likely in small tribes, to the farther reaches of the earth. As God did at creation and the flood, God's supernatural action instigates the development of the world we now live. It is hardly a stretch of the imagination to imagine these spreading populations of men exploring, taming, conquering, and colonizing the earth. It takes staggeringly few generations to form the world of today.