Greed

The painting shows an angel with torn wings, caught in thorny briars that wind around him from every side. The angel reaches desperately for an apple, and above him watches the serpent — the same serpent that once tempted Eve to taste the forbidden fruit.

Let us look more closely at the symbolism of this image. According to religious tradition, sickness and suffering entered the world after Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit. It is not for nothing that people say the forbidden fruit is sweet. Through the figure of an angel straining to pluck fruit from the forbidden tree, I wanted to show human greed.

Despite pain and torment, the angel stubbornly reaches for the apple, wanting what does not belong to him. The briars stand for pain and suffering, for every greedy person endures a kind of anguish of the soul. Loneliness pursues him; he cannot be content with what he already has and constantly craves more. The thorns wind ever tighter, binding his movements, clouding his mind and causing him pain.

At first glance one may not notice his ragged wings — a sign of spiritual decline and lost purity. Above him the serpent watches mockingly, waiting for him to perish of his own stubbornness, pain and unquenchable desire. And still, despite the suffering, the angel goes on reaching for the forbidden fruit, striving to taste what was never meant for him.