It was during this time that an erotic type of woman, the femme fatale, was emerging with wide eyes, skimpy late 19th-century clothing and a seductive pose as Stuck's trademark.

The woman shown is Anna Maria Brandmaier from Bayerdilling, a childhood sweetheart and model of Stuck, who is in eye contact with the viewer.

The motif of the serpent, in close association with a woman, relates to the Old Testament fall, and is depicted in the Bible in the Book of Genesis.

Above and to the right of the woman's white body, an orange-contrasted canvas forms the background, which can be construed as hellfire for those who succumb to temptations and sin.

Stuck saw his handcrafted frames as part of a tactical masterpiece, where he not only created in his work, but also built his entire artistic life on it.

Stuck cleverly uses elements of contemporary morality, such as those advocated by the Church, to wield power over the human sex drive.

Stuck uses and reduces the female body as a tool for his own will to power in relation to his career, recognition and material wealth.

[10] Henry Ossawa Tanner would use elements of von Stuck's painting to create Salome, a work featuring the daughter of Herod Antipas who asked for the head of John the Baptist.

Tanner tended to use blue as a spiritual color,[11] but there context could assign it the values of holy judgement, damnation or death.

Rather, from context the blue laid across the woman's body with the face shaded in von Stuck's The Sin could be symbolize death or damnation.

The tempting body of the femme fatale, meant to arouse lust, is surrounded by darkness, and the orange patch over the woman's shoulder may symbolize hell.