Creation of Adam

Continuing on the topic of my last post of Christian Art, this post is about Michelangelo's Creation of Adam. 

In 1508, Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to paint a series of ceiling frescos for the Sistine Chapel.  The nine images that adorn the central part of the ceiling illustrate important scenes from the Book of Genesis. The first three are devoted to the creation of the world, the second three to the creation and fall of Adam and Eve, and the last three to the story of Noah. One of the best-known image from the Sistine Chapel Ceiling is Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam, in which God stretches out his finger to provide Adam with the spark of life. In this scene, the two focal characters are set in contrast. Adam is depicted as earthbound and slightly sluggish, while God has a commanding presence and appears to be barreling through the heavens surrounded by a cadre of angels. Yet Adam’s muscular, well-formed body, echoing the position of the Creator, communicates the true significance of the scene—that Man is created in the image of God.

The focal point of the Creation of Adam painting is the contact between the fingers of God and those of Adam, through which the breath of life is transmitted. By not painting the fingers of God and Adam touching and leaving a small space between the two, Michelangelo creates a tingling tension, an anticipation of that wonderous moment, as we all wait for God to complete his Creation of Adam.

Michelangelo clearly draws on classical examples for his work in the Sistine Chapel. However, combining his study of ancient sculpture with his first-hand knowledge of human anatomy and a confidence in imaginative power, he takes the body somewhere entirely new. This can be seen most clearly in the naked, youthful figures placed at the corners of each central panel. As Michelangelo painted the ceiling, moving forward from the entrance, these figures become progressively more animated, more robust. The figures on the Sistine ceiling reflect Michelangelo’s firmly held belief that the body should be celebrated as a reflection of both divine beauty and the beauty of the human soul.