The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo Buonarotti
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The period of the Renaissance, which lasted from the14th to 17th century, is the time when man came back fromthe devastation he was put through during the Middle Ages, and regained almostall of the abilities that were achieved by him during the Greek and Roman timeperiods, specifically artistic. The Renaissance is also when most of the famousreligious art was produced. The Renaissance is determined to have been born inFlorence, Italy, just like one of the most famous renaissance sculptors andartists ever known- Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarotti Simoni. Michelangelo isbelieved to born the 6th of March 1475, and is known to have diedthe18th of February 1564. During his long lifetime of 64 years, he produced avast number of artistic and architectural masterpieces, such as the Pieta, thesculpture of David, the dome of St. Peters Basilica in Vatican. Among all ofthese amazing works, one that was probably defined Michelangelo in a new sense,as a painter, was the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The chapel was built dueto a commission made by Pope Sixtus, after whom the chapel was later named. Theone who summoned Michelangelo for this specific job, was Julius II. Even thoughthe four years of painting the chapel were torturous and full of struggle forMichelangelo, during that time he produced images, that are now consideredlegendary.
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«The Creation of Adam», one of the ninescenes from the book of genesis, Is placed right in the center of the chapel,emphasizing the importance of this particular stage. As a person walks into theSistine chapel, his or her eyes are primarily attracted right to the center,where the scenes about Adam and Eve, including the «Creation of Adam»are portrayed. Even though the ultimate central piece is «God creates Eve»,the true emphasis is drawn to the masterpiece, «Creation of Adam». Thisis effect is achieved due not only to the beautiful quality of the work, butalso due to the larger scale of this work over the «Creation of Eve»and «Adam and Eve tempted and outlawed out of Eden». Appreciating allthe fabulous painting, it is important to notice that Michelangelo didn’tintend to be a painter at all. His primary qualification was sculpting, so itcan be said, that he was «forced» into painting. Even thoughMichelangelos’ performance in the Sistine Chapel is superlative, while creatingthe images on the ceiling, he was experiencing great difficulties: he waslearning how to handle a new media-plaster and pigment, or the art of fresco.The Fresco is a very difficult manner to work in; as the work has to becompleted on wet plaster, and done before it dries. It is known, thatBuonarotti had such difficulties with this technique that once he had to chipoff twenty days worth of work. When first looking at the magnificent «Creationof Adam», the sensation that strikes me the most is the realism of thebodies of Adam, a muscular and young man, lying on a hill in a fairly relaxedpose, casually stretching his arm to God, while on the other hand, is notrelaxed at all. He is pictured as an elderly bearded man, being carried in acape with angels, and with great effort, reaching out towards Adam to give himthe spark of life. The dimensions of this particular art piece are 280 cm x 570cm, so all of the human figures are bigger than the real life. Even though Adamappears to be quite inert and lacking action compared to his creator, thebeauty of the human body redeems that fact. Once after all, the God had createdthe man «in his own image». Michelangelo shrewdly weaves in this ideainto the work, by making the right leg of Adam a complete replica of the rightleg of god, and also curving their bodies in similar ways, in other wordsMichelangelo was very keen to hiding various symbols in his work.
I n order to achieve these various goals, such ascommunicating a message, and dazzling the spectators with the marvelous appealto reality, Michelangelo Buonarotti had to use the basic rules of art: theprinciples and elements of design. Using the basic principles of design:balance, contrast, proportion, rhythm, emphasis, unity, contrast, harmony,repetition, and combining them with the elements: line, shape, direction, size,texture color and value, an artist can create any kind of work he wants to. Thefirst element that strikes the eye is the composition of this piece. God ispictured in the top right corner, while Adam is in the bottom left. Their linkinghand form a diagonal that adds more action to the painting itself, andcomplements the rather casual poses of the characters. The flaring green ribbonserves a similar function, creating movement and drawing us into the painting,as well as the feet of god and the angels, which are almost touching the rightedge of the painting, therefore serving a role of a pathway. The ratio betweenthe negative and the positive space is well balanced: the simplicity of Adams surroundingsis evened out by the dynamics created by the angels and the voluminous red capein the top left corner. Another diagonal that lies within this piece is thegreen hill which Adam is resting upon. The color of the hill serves a role ofunification, as it pairs up with the flaring green scarf and unifies the workby connecting the two sides. Even though God and Adam share a similar position,God is elevated over him. This symbolizes the superiority of the deity over theordinary man. Another curious thing to notice is the similarity between the redcape filled with angels with a human organ, particularly the brain. Thisallusion to the human organs explains the choice of the color for the cape andthe complex weaving done by the bodies of the angels. Modern scientists have nowproved that Michelangelos representation of the brain is anatomically accurate.Each angel under the cape stands for a certain part of the brain. It isfascinating how Michelangelo figured out which part of this complex organstands for what part of our personality: he placed the sad angel under Godsright arm, at the area which is activated when people are thinking sad thoughtsand God in the frontal lobe- the part that is responsible for our personality. Ifthe whole structure with the cape is perceived as the brain, then the feet ofthe god and angels, along with the scarf now transform into the brainstem andarteries.
Through these various symbols, Michelangelocommunicates a multitude messages and ideas… The first and most obviousmessage being sent to us is the contrast between god and Adam: the livelywisdom and the inert simplicity of Adam. Seeing Gods figure, full of movement,and stretching out to Adam, one perceives his willingness to endow Adam withthe spark of life, while on the other hand, Adams relaxed pose shows him asthough taking the prodigious gift for granted, not putting much effort intoreceiving the spark. This gives people awareness of how we underestimate thegift that was given to us by God. The composition also emphasizes theseparation of the man from the world of angels. Now about the anatomicalinterpretation: God is located right in the cape, which represents the brain.This highlights the importance of the brain within a person. Michelangelo wasable to understand that the brain is the organ that gives godly spark to eachperson, serves as a possible key into life. This place of God within this imagecould also signify that each person has a part of god in themselves, but due tothe strict religious boundaries set during the time of Renaissance, this seemsunlikely. Even though Adam and God haven’t yet linked their hands, the man isalready alive. This is similar the way that neurons are transferred through thenerves in the brain: the ends don’t touch, even though the message is beingpassed. Through Body language, symbols and emotions Buonarotti managed to openup a great area of interpretation, connecting all of the areas of knowledge.
Even after having analyzed this magnificent piece ofartwork, one can’t claim to have obtained entire knowledge about the piece. Onecan never be certain that all of the messages hidden by Michelangelo wererevealed. The only thing that one can be certain of is that this piece is thatit is iconic in terms of describing the Renaissance. Michelangelo managed to connectart, anatomy, chemistry, biology and theology all into one united work. It ishard to imagine how Michelangelo obtained such precise information about thefunctions of the different parts of the brain, and came up with the idea toreplace it with the angels. The play of emotions of the characters againfascinates me: the longing expression on Adams face is combined with hisgesture seems to be able to strike a chord in any person. It is relevant to saythat the style of Buonarotti was greatly influenced by the Greek and Romanartwork, and that the grandeur of Adams torso is an indirect allusion towardsthe ancient Greek and Roman gods. After having spent so much time with this artpiece I know that this piece is one of the most outstanding artworks that haveever been done by a human being, but as Michelangelo once said:" If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, itwouldn't seem so wonderful at all."
Bibliography
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