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Leonard French
remembers how these
paintings came to be
“
On
the Greek
island of Samos
in the summer of 1962,
my son swam out through
the clear water and on
reaching me
asked,
???
How did
the world
begin
???
These paintings grew
out of my attempt
to answer his
question
“
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I’ll add
the artist’s
interpretations
in the photo captions
to see how they
compare to
the biblical
account
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The First Day
And
God saw
that the light
was good, and he
separated the light
from the darkness
.
God
called the
light Day, and
the darkness
he called
Night
.
and there was evening,
and there was morning,
the first day
.
Genesis 1:4-5
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The Second Day
And
God made
the expanse and
separated the waters
that were under the expanse
from the waters that were
above the expanse
.
And
it was
so
.
And
God called
the expanse ‘sky’
.
and there was evening,
and there was morning,
the second day
.
Genesis 1:7-8
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The Third Day
Then
God said,
“Let the land
produce vegetation:
seed-bearing plants and
trees on the land that bear
fruit with seed in it,
according to their
various kinds.”
And it was
so
.
The land
produced vegetation:
plants bearing seed according
to their kinds and trees bearing
fruit with seed in it according
to their kinds
.
And
God saw
that it was
good
.
and there was evening,
and there was morning,
the third day
.
Genesis 1:10-13
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The Fourth Day
God made
two great lights,
the greater light to
govern the day and
the lesser light to
govern the
night
.
He also
made the stars.
God set them in the
vault of the sky to give
light on the earth, to govern
the day and the night, and
to separate light
from darkness
.
And
God saw
that it was
good
.
and there was evening,
and there was morning,
the fourth day
.
Genesis 1:16-19
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The Fifth Day
So
God
created
the great
sea creatures
and every living
creature that moves,
with which the waters
swarm, according
to their kinds,
and every
winged bird
according to
its kind
.
And
God saw
that it was
good
.
And God
blessed them, saying,
“Be fruitful and multiply and
fill the waters in the seas,
and let birds multiply
on the earth.”
and there was evening,
and there was morning,
the fifth day
.
Genesis 1:21-23
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The Sixth Day
So
God
created man
in his own image,
in the image of God
he created him; male
and female he
created them.
And God
blessed them
.
And God
said to them,
“Be fruitful and multiply
and fill the earth and subdue it,
and have dominion over the fish
of the sea and over the birds
of the heavens and over
every living thing that
moves on the
earth.”
And God
said, “Behold,
I have given you
every plant yielding
seed that is on the face
of all the earth, and every
tree with seed in its fruit.
You shall have them for food.
And to every beast of the earth
and to every bird of the heavens
and to everything that creeps on
the earth, everything that has
the breath of life, I have given
every green plant for food.”
And it was so
.
And
God saw
everything
that he had made,
and behold, it
was very
good
.
and there was evening,
and there was morning,
the sixth day
.
Genesis 1:27-31
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The Seventh Day
So God blessed
the seventh day and
made it holy, because
on it God rested from
all his work that he
had done in
creation
.
Genesis 2:3
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All paintings are enamel on
hessian-covered hardboard
rectangular
183 cm x 160 cm
circular
430 cm
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