Paradise Lost

Tree of Life and Cherub's Sword, Tree of Death and Serpent (57 x 28.5) 1982.
“And out of the ground Yahweh-God made grow every kind of tree that was attractive to the sight and good for food, and the Tree of Life in the midst of the Garden, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil” (Gen. II,9).
This one is on the left, in the darkness of Night and Death; he is in the field like the serpent (the serpent was the most cunning of the animals of the fields (Gen. III,1).
Death (skull) rises above its branches.
“The woman saw that the Tree was good for food, and desirable for gaining understanding.
She took of its fruit and ate” (Gen. III,6).
The man is on the right in the middle of the Garden full of flowers, in the light, under the Tree of Life which comes out of death and from which the bird of Life flies away; he stretches out his right hand in the night to seize the fruit that Eve offers him.
Iahweh placed the cherubim and the flame of the lightning sword in front of the Garden of Eden to guard the path to the Tree of Life (Gen. III, 24).
(Text commentary by Charles Sahuguet).

Out of the Garden (46 x 39.5) 1980.
“He banished Man and placed before the Garden of Eden the cherubim and the flame of the lightning sword to guard the way to the Tree of Life” (Gen. III, 24).
The Tree is in the middle of the garden filled with flowers, surrounded by the lower primordial waters: the divine dove above the Tree is surrounded by the upper primordial waters that God separated on the 2nd day.
“God said: let there be a firmament in the middle of the waters and let it separate the waters from the waters” (Gen. I, 6).
Adam, man and woman, framing the serpent, is in the field (brambles, thistles and stones).
Between him and the garden, the cherub brandishes the lightning sword.
(Text commentary by Charles Sahuguet).