You know, no matter how many times I see this painting, I still cannot figure out if she is ascending or descending. I ASSUME she is ascending. I feel like these beings around her are meant to allude to angels since they are beautiful and seem much like other artistic depictions of angels — just minus the wings. But I don’t know for sure. And if a sexual woman is damned, is he saying that’s right — or is he calling that out? He did other blatantly sexual paintings, so I feel like there was deliberate action here. But…sadly, I guess we’ll never truly know.