Pandora

Joseph Robinson

This was an oil painting that was finished on Jan. 1, 1814 by artist Josef Abel. This picture is a depiction of the myth of the first woman, Pandora, who brought with her all of the vices that plague humanity in the present today. Josef Abel studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna among the finest artists of his time, and painted many ancient subjects in the dark, moody style that was popular at that moment in time. This piece has become almost synonymous now with the essence of the Pandora’s box story, and it can be found displayed almost anywhere where Pandora is being discussed. Replicas and recreations of this work are common as it is in the public domain and free to reproduce.

It’s curious to me that men have been creating stories and folklore to pin all of mankind's problems on women since ancient times. In this painting one can see Pandora apparently overwhelmed with curiosity of what is in the box that she was given by Zeus. A woman who simply can’t stay put and do as she’s told and will be blamed by an entire culture for unleashing jealousy, anger, fear, hate, and every awful vice onto mankind. The painting barely veils the sexual symbolism in Pandora clutching the pithos to her reproductive organs as Zues is holding back her attempts to approach the first man, created out of a clay statue. As her legs are depicted lunging towards the first man, even while her creator is demanding she stay away, the depiction seems to give her a sexuality she can’t control; a base, animal nature that is foreboding of her alleged “torturing” of mankind for all eternity. From this story, one could surmise that the ancient Greeks viewed women through a lens of loathing and pity for their inferior willpower and control. In this sense, the painting portrays Pandora true to ancient Greek accounts: an overwhellmingly sexual and cunning woman who will become the scapegoat for all the bad in mankind; a “beautiful evil” and a “great “affliction”. It is oddly moving to see the common thread woven through patriarchal societies in ancient times that still influences our western society today through influences like the Christian tale of Adam and Eve, another woman blamed for all of mankind’s sin and suffering. Recognizing that these tropes of femininity have been present since ancient times certainly provides context to current feminist struggles today.

Works Cited

Various Authors. “Josef Abel.” Budapestauction.com,

Various Authors. “Josef Abel.” Hellenicaworld.com, http://www.hellenicaworld.com/Art/Paintings/en/JosefAbel.html.

La Fond, Marie. “Lecture #4: Rise of Man, Rise of Woman: Prometheus and Pandora.” Canvas.uw.edu.