Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
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The Watts Gift
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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/george-frederic-watts-586" aria-label="More by George Frederic Watts" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">George Frederic Watts</a>
She shall be called woman
Presented by the artist 1897
adults
Bible: Old Testament
birth to death
Creation
emotions and human qualities
emotions, concepts and ideas
Eve
female
flower
innocence
nudes
people
plants and flowers
religion and belief
society
soul
stages of life
universal religious imagery
woman
<p>Watts called these three paintings <i>The Eve Trilogy</i>. They represent Eve’s ascension to life, her temptation and her grief after her downfall. In her temptation she is shown greedily entwined with the apple tree. The dissolving forms of the central work correspond to the idea of Eve rising up in an explosion of light and colour. By contrast, the heaviness of flesh in the final work suggests her burden of sin and guilt.</p><p><em>Gallery label, July 2007</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
8 August 2005 – 4 October 2010
2010-10-04
8 August 2005 – 4 October 2010
2010-10-04
2005-08-08
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2005-08-08
Victorian Spectacle
Collection based display
5 February 2009 – 3 May 2009
2009-05-03
5 February 2009 – 3 May 2009
2009-05-03
2009-02-05
Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt (Frankfurt, Germany)
http://www.schirn.de
2009-02-05
Envisioning Darwin
Loan-out
28 July 2014
28 July 2014
2014-07-28
Watts Gallery - Artists’ Village (Compton, UK)
http://www.wattsgallery.org.uk
2014-07-28
Long loan to Watts Gallery
Loan-out
‘She shall be called woman’
support: 2578 × 1168 mm
frame: 2905 × 1520 × 90 mm
Presented by <a href="/search?gid=999999783" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">the artist</a> 1897
<p>This is the first of three large <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a> of Eve by Watts, all of which are in the Tate collection.  This picture, originally known as <i>The Newly Created Eve</i>, shows Eve at the moment of her creation, rising up in an explosion of light and colour; the other two depict Eve tempted by the serpent<i> </i>(Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/watts-eve-tempted-n01643" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N01643</span></a>) and her subsequent repentance (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/watts-eve-repentant-n01644" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N01644</span></a>). The notion of ending the sequence with Eve's redemption constituted a break with traditional characterisation. 

</p><p>Watts reworked this picture considerably in the 1890s, transforming it into a <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/symbolism" title="Glossary definition for 'Symbolism'"><span>Symbolist</span></a> work.  In particular he developed the notion of woman as a potent force of nature.  At the base of the painting is a meadow of spring flowers; colourful birds flock around Eve's legs in a swirl of clouds and lilies. Bathed in sunlight the woman soars upwards towards the spiritual realm in the upper atmosphere.  She tilts her face towards the sun, soaking up its powerful, life-giving rays.

</p><p>The full-length nude enjoyed a revival in British art during the late 1860s, and Watts probably contributed to this through works such as <i>Thetis</i> (<i>c</i>.1866-9, Watts Gallery, Compton).  From the outset he considered the series of nude Eves as 'more fit for a gallery than a dwelling house' (quoted in Wilton and Upstone 1997, p.266) and in 1873 he stipulated in a letter that they should be kept together as a group: 'these designs - Eve in the glory of her innocence, Eve yielding to temptation, and Eve restored to beauty and nobility by remorse - form part of one design and can hardly be separated, any more than one would think of separating the parts of an epic poem.' (M.S. Watts, <i>George Frederic Watts: Annals of an Artist's Life</i>, vol.1, 1912, p.262.)  

</p><p>Nevertheless, he sent this picture, independent of the group, for exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1892.  Perhaps the other two were as yet unfinished, but he may have felt that the first picture was capable of standing by itself, after all. The Academy were unhappy with Watts' execution and refused to hang it on the line, but Frederic Leighton, the President, intervened on his behalf and persuaded them to rehang it in a more favourable position. Nevertheless, he, too, objected to the picture's lack of finish and wrote to Watts of the 'inequality in the execution and lack in places of completeness' (quoted in Wilton and Upstone 1997, p.267). 

</p><p><b>Further reading:<br/></b>Andrew Wilton and Robert Upstone (eds), <i>The Age of Rossetti, Burne-Jones &amp; Watts: Symbolism in Britain 1860-1910</i>, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1997, pp.265-7, no.124, reproduced p.266, in colour.<br/>Christopher Wood, <i>Victorian Painting</i>, London 1999, pp.196-204.

</p><p>Frances Fowle<br/>November 2000<br/></p>
Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<p>Watts called these three paintings <i>The Eve Trilogy</i>. They represent Eve’s ascension to life, her temptation and her grief after her downfall. In her temptation she is shown greedily entwined with the apple tree. The dissolving forms of the central work correspond to the idea of Eve rising up in an explosion of light and colour. By contrast, the heaviness of flesh in the final work suggests her burden of sin and guilt.</p>

Display caption
2007-07-10T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
adults Bible: Old Testament birth to death Creation emotions and human qualities emotions, concepts and ideas Eve female flower innocence nudes people plants and flowers religion and belief society soul stages of life universal religious imagery woman