Author	Michelangelo Buonarroti
Technique	Fresco
Style	Renaissance
Dimensions	280 cm x 570 cm
Location	Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Rome

Context

"The Creation of Adam" is the most famous fresco of the set of nine paintings depicting the Genesis stories that Michelangelo Buonarroti painted on behalf of Pope Julius II in 1508 in order to decorate the vault of the Sistine Chapel. Completing this work took about four years, and no wonder, the totality of these paintings occupies more than 500 square meters.

The central theme of the work is based on the episode of the creation of Adam described in the Old Testament, specifically at the moment when God after having created the light and the planets is ready to continue his work giving life to a being.

Like most of the paintings that we have analyzed before, this maintains an important influence at present, it is one of the most representative icons of the Renaissance, Christian mythology and anthropocentrism.

Over the centuries it has inspired faith in believers by generating a sense of closeness to a god that has anthropomorphic characteristics. But also today this painting generates questions and concerns, it is not yet clear who is the woman who holds God by the arm and there are debates about whether the mantle that covers God and his angels has the form of a human brain.

The Sistine Chapel was built between 1475 and 1481 at request of Pope Sixtus IV, to whom the name by which we know it is due. Although Michelangelo painted the vault and the imposing mural "The Last Judgment", he was not the only artist who contributed to its decoration. In its lower area we find frescoes by painters such as Perugino, Signorelli or Botticelli.

Michelangelo divided the vault into ten arches which generated that it was divided into nine successive sections (one for each story) that are crossed by two false cornices that produce a partition in three. That is why the Genesis stories are divided into groups of three, the first focuses on the creation of the universe, the second on the stay of man in paradise and the third on sins. We can also appreciate that in the central area there are seven prophets of the old testament and five sibyls.

Analysis

At first glance we notice that the fresco is divided into two planes, on the left is Adam resting on a mound, and on the right we see God moving with some cherubs.

Let's focus first on the figure of Adam, he is naked and immobile, his face and figure correspond to the beauty ideal of the time. Despite having large muscles seems to have no energy, is tied to the ground (just emerged from it) and hopes to have a slight contact with God that fill him with vitality.

Adam is in contact with the earth, representing his mortality, his left arm is stretched to the maximum towards the central (and perhaps more important) point of the scene. The position of Adam is very close to the lower limit of the painting, which creates the illusion of being held by one of the sibyls found on the pillars of the vault.

His figure has a very detailed anatomy, has a shading that highlights the muscles of the torso and chest that are slightly bent and stretched, the same happens with the muscles of the arms, which results in an athletic figure. Meanwhile, his recumbent legs have much less shadows and details, not being so muscular. His left hand also has a lot of details, the bones of the hand are highlighted by the shade as well as the tendons of the fingers.

God is represented as an old man, but not of such advanced age, his hair and beard are white to symbolize experience and wisdom. It is accompanied by angelic figures and covered by a kind of mantle with the shape of a purple cloud, the fabrics help to increase the sensation of movement.

The divine figure is not as detailed as Adam's, but it also shows great strength, the arm that extends towards the center of the composition to give the spark of life is the right, his hand is also very detailed.

His left arm is held by a woman who looks with distrust at Adam, the most reasonable is to believe that is Eve, who has not been created yet and hopes to be given his place on earth, but the painter he does not make it clear.

Between the two planes, the one of God and the one of Adam, is the central point that gives sense to the representation and fills the fresco of a greatness that captivates us, the hands of both characters in search of contact with each other to join in a single plane to match their fingers. The suspense generated by this minimal space that Michelangelo leaves between the two beings represents the allegory of the mystery of human creation and our search for divine revelation.

The work also seems to be a kind of cult to the human body, the author makes the landscape very simple and focuses exclusively on the modeling and shadows of the bodies looking for the balance between physical strength, spirituality and beauty.

The colors that dominate the foreground are the ocher tones, but there are also pure colors, while for the background we find cold colors of bluish and greenish tones, the pigments used were of the highest quality which resulted in a clean and bright fresco .

Curiosities

• The inspiration of Michelangelo could have come from the medieval hymn called "Veni Creator Spiritus", in which the finger of the father's right hand (digitus paternae dexterae) is asked to give the faithful love.

• Some scientists consider that the figure of the mantle that surrounds God would be a very accurate representation of the anatomy of the human brain, while others indicate that it is a female uterus being the green fabric that hangs the umbilical cord that has just been cut .

Images extracted from Wikipedia

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