What does this picture tell me? "Creation of Adam" by Michelangelo Buonarroti. The Creation of Adam is one of the most famous depictions in the history of world painting.

The Creation of Adam is one of 9 frescoes, painted on biblical subjects and making up the compositional center of the Sistine Chapel. Its author is Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564).

Background

Michelangelo is a renowned Renaissance painter and sculptor. He lived a long and fruitful life. Born in 1475, already in the late 80s of the 15th century, he began to study sculpture and fine arts, and in the early 90s he created his first independent works. Even in these youthful works (the author is 15-17 years old), the inclinations of a future genius are noticeable. By the beginning of the 16th century, Michelangelo was already quite

In 1505, he invited him to create his own tomb, work on which lasted almost 40 years. But the painting of the vaults of the Sistine Chapel, which was commissioned by the same Julius II, Michelangelo completed in record time. It took him only 4 years to create dozens of frescoes with a total area of ​​600 m², which depict more than 300 figures. The fresco "The Creation of Adam" is one of the central frescoes in the entire composition.

Art critics note that Michelangelo took up the painting of the vaults with great reluctance. He offered to entrust this matter to Raphael, but Julius II was adamant. Gradually, the work carried away the artist, so a masterpiece of monumental art was created.

The Sistine Chapel

The chapel building was built at the end of the 15th century by order of Pope Sixtus IV. It is currently one of the most important sites in the Catholic world. It is in this building that the conclave of archbishops and cardinals gathers to elect a new pope.

As conceived by Sixtus IV, the chapel was supposed to resemble a fortress in appearance, symbolizing the impregnable center, the heart of the Catholic Church, and with its interior decoration to demonstrate the power of the Pope.

The building was built by the architect from Florence Giorgde de Dolci, and Botticelli, Rosselli, Perugino, Michelangelo and other famous artists of that time were engaged in painting and decorating the interior. The Sistine Chapel captivates at first sight with the beauty and grandeur of the biblical characters. "The Creation of Adam" is a fresco that occupies one of the central places in the painting, it is also one of the most expressive.

The vaults of the Sistine Chapel

On the ceiling of the chapel, Michelangelo created a grandiose ensemble, in the center of which are placed 9 scenes from the first plot - "Separation of light from darkness", the last - "Noah's drunkenness". The central place in the composition is occupied by the frescoes The Creation of Adam, The Creation of Eve and The Fall.

Along the perimeter of the frescoes of the central field, figures of young men and women, prophets and sibyls are depicted, and the sides of the vault are painted with scenes from the Old Testament and represent the predecessors of Jesus Christ.

When Michelangelo took up painting, he had neither the knowledge nor experience in making frescoes. Specialists from Florence were invited to help him. But very soon the sculptor surpassed them in technique. Having chased away the assistants, he single-handedly completed the painting of the huge ceiling.

The inauguration of the Sistine Chapel plafond was timed to coincide with October 1512. The first viewers were struck by the beauty and titanism of the images, the colossal size of the painting, which was distinguished by the unity of the plot. However, even five centuries later, this work continues to fascinate and delight.

"Creation of Adam" (Michelangelo). Description

The plot was taken from The Bible says that God created man in his own image and likeness. The image can be conditionally divided into 2 parts. Above and to the right is the Lord. He appears in the form of a gray-haired, but full of physical strength old man. He is surrounded by a host of angels. Red draperies complete the look. They enhance the experience by conveying a sense of energy and strength.

Below and on the left is the figure of Adam. This is a wonderful young man. His powers are not yet awakened, he reaches out to God with a weak hand. The right hand of the Lord is about to touch it and transfer vital energy to a person. When the two hands touch, the act of creation is complete.

Features of painting

The fresco "Creation of Adam" stands out among others created by Michelangelo. Probably, this story particularly excited him. It is noteworthy that it depicts not the physical creation of man, but the transfer of vital energy to him - the soul, the spark of God. The artist managed to show the dynamics and drama of the scene.

Art critics note that Adam Michelangelo reaches out with his hand not only to God, but also to Eve. She has not yet been born, the Almighty covers her with his left hand.

Until recently, Michelangelo was considered a poor colorist, noting that the images he created were more like painted statues. However, restoration work has allowed the original color of the frescoes to be restored. For the scene "The Creation of Adam", rich tones of various shades were used. In terms of painting technique, this work can be put on a par with those created by the predecessors of Michelangelo, Giotto and Masaccio.

Works of art can carry a certain hidden meaning, which sometimes can be deciphered. We offer you a selection of ten masterpieces of painting, in which we managed to find secret signs.

1. "Mona Lisa": there is a hidden code in her eyes

Typically, the power of Mona Lisa is attributed to the intriguing smile depicted on the woman's face. However, historians from Italy have found that if you look at the eyes of the Gioconda under a microscope, you can see letters and numbers.

Experts say that these subtle numbers and letters represent something like the "Da Vinci Code" in real life: the letters "LV" are visible in the right eye, which may well mean the name of the artist, Leonardo da Vinci, and there are symbols in the left eye too , but they have not yet been identified. It is very difficult to see them clearly, but most likely they are either the letters "CE" or the letter "B".

In the arch of the bridge, the number 72 can be seen in the background, or it could be the letter "L" and a two. In addition, the picture shows the number 149 with an erased four, which may indicate the date of the picture's creation - da Vinci painted it during his stay in Milan in the 1490s.

It is important to remember that the painting is almost 500 years old, so the hidden signs are not visible as clearly and clearly as they could be immediately after its creation.

2. "The Last Supper": the picture contains mathematical and astrological puzzles and a musical melody

The Last Supper is the subject of much speculation, usually focusing on the alleged hidden messages and hints encrypted in the painting.

Slavisa Pesci, an information technologist, achieved an interesting visual effect by overlaying a mirrored translucent version of the painting on top of the original. As a result, two Templar-like figures appeared at both ends of the table, and another person became visible to the left of Jesus - perhaps a woman with a baby in her arms.

Italian musician Giovanni Maria Pala pointed out that the position of the hands and bread can be interpreted as notes in a piece of music, and if read from right to left, as was characteristic of Leonardo's writing, they form a piece of music.

Vatican researcher Sabrina Sforza Galizia, said she has deciphered the "mathematical and astrological" puzzle contained in The Last Supper. According to her, the artist predicted a worldwide flood and the coming end of the world, which will begin on March 21, 4006, and end on November 1 of the same year - she believes that this will be the beginning of a new era for humanity.

3. "Creation of Adam": the divine origin of the mind

Michelangelo's Creation of Adam has stood the test of time, not only as the most famous fresco in the Sistine Chapel, but also as one of the most iconic images in human history.

Michelangelo is recognized as one of the greatest painters and sculptors of the Italian Renaissance, but it is not widely known that he carefully studied anatomy and, at the age of 17, dismembered corpses excavated in a churchyard.

American neuroanatomy experts believe that Michelangelo did use some anatomical knowledge when working on the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel.

Although some may consider this a coincidence, experts suggest that Michelangelo could hardly have written such a painting by chance: in the fresco you can even see the outlines of such complex parts of the brain as the cerebellum, optic nerve and pituitary gland. And in the very figure of Adam, stretching out his hand to God, one can discern the outlines of the bridge of Varoli and the spine.

4. Frescoes of the Sistine Chapel: some of them show parts of the human brain

As in the case of the "Creation of Adam", among the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel there is another mural with a figure of God, containing a secret message.

Experts noticed that God's chest and neck have anatomical abnormalities that no other human figure on the murals has anymore. In addition, while most of the figures are lit diagonally from the lower left edge, the sun's rays fall on God's neck at a right angle - the researchers concluded that the genius made such an inaccuracy deliberately.

If you superimpose the image of the strange neck of God on a photograph of the human brain, it becomes noticeable that the contours of both images almost completely coincide, and the strange rectangle of tissue extending to the center of God's garment can symbolize the spinal cord.

Michelangelo also depicted other anatomical features in some places on the ceiling, in particular the kidney, which was of particular interest to Michelangelo, as the artist suffered from kidney stones.

5. "Madonna and Saint Giovannino": UFO tracks

"Madonna with Saint Giovannino" by Domenico Ghirlandaio has an interesting detail: a strangely shaped drop hovers in the sky above Mary's left shoulder.

In this place of the picture, a board-like object is clearly visible, perhaps brilliant - the artist depicted this object to the smallest detail, trying to place it in his work so that it catches the eye. In addition, on the right side of the picture, we see a person raising his right hand to his eyes, showing how bright this object is, and in the upper left corner we see an object that looks like the sun.

Madonna and Saint Giovannino is just one of many medieval paintings depicting strange, disturbing unidentified flying objects soaring in the sky.

6. "Prophet Zechariah": the power of religion

The tension between Pope Julius II and Michelangelo is documented in historical documents. Historians note that Michelangelo portrayed the Pope in one of his paintings as the prophet Zechariah, and one of the angels behind him makes an extremely obscene gesture.

The figure, in which the fingers of an adorable little child are folded, is called "fig", but its meaning is not at all as sweet as the name: holding the thumb between the index and middle fingers, it shows the gesture of the old world, which has retained its meaning to this day. In the West, the gesture is not so common, but in Russia its meaning is well known.

7. "David and Goliath": mystical signs of Kabbalah

Analyzing the arrangement of the figures on the 1300 km² Sistine Chapel ceiling, scientists have discovered shapes similar to the Hebrew letters: for example, the figures of David and Goliath form the letter "Gimel", symbolizing "power" in the mystical tradition of Kabbalah.

Researchers believe that Michelangelo became acquainted with Judaism during his stay at the court of Lorenzo Medici in Florence, and the entire Sistine Chapel, possibly built in the same proportions as the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, is a "lost mystical message of universal love" intended for decryption.

8. "Flemish Proverbs": the picture contains 112 Dutch idioms

"Flemish Proverbs" is an oil painting on an oak panel by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, filled with symbols related to the Dutch proverbs of the time.

In total, 112 idioms were found and deciphered in the picture: some of them are still used, for example, "swim against the tide", "a big fish eats a small fish", "banging your head against the wall" and "arm yourself to the teeth."

Other proverbs point to human stupidity. Some symbols seem to represent the meaning of more than one figure of speech, for example, a man shearing sheep sits next to a man cutting a pig to the left of the center at the bottom of the painting, and this scene symbolizes the expression “Someone shears sheep, and someone - pigs ”, which means that one person has an advantage over others. Also, the scene can mean "Shears, but don't take off your skins", that is, it warns not to go too far when using your capabilities.

9. "Supper at Emmaus": Christian vow of silence

"Dinner at Emmaus" is a painting by Caravaggio, an Italian Baroque artist. The painting depicts the moment when the resurrected Jesus stays incognito in the city of Emmaus, but meets two of his disciples there and breaks bread with them, after which they recognize him.

The picture is unusual already in that the figures of people are depicted on a dark empty background in full size, and at the very edge of the table there is a basket with food, which seems to be about to fall. There is also a strange fish-like shadow, which may indicate a vow of silence as mandatory for Christians.

10. "Portrait of young Mozart": signs of the Freemasons

Of course, works of art have not bypassed the theme of Freemasonry: portraits of people hiding their hands can indicate dedication or a level of hierarchy. An example is the portrait of Mozart painted by Antonio Lorenzoni.

The Creation of Adam - Michelangelo Buonarroti. 1511. Fresco. 280x570

The Creator flies in endless space, surrounded by angelic assistants. The last great Work remained to complete the Creation of the world - the creation of man, the only living creature similar in image and inner content to the Creator himself.

The gesture of God the Father is precise and confident. Divine energy has already begun to fill the body of the perfectly built Adam, the first of human beings.

Angels are watching the Great Mystery of Creation with delight and reverence. Among God's helpers there are many who are full of fear and bewilderment. What will this new, previously unseen creature be like? What will it bring to this newly created world? Will God's Great Trust Justify?

The figure of Adam deserves special attention. The author creates this image with love and special care. The very first person on Earth is in front of the viewer, and therefore he is ideal. Not a single flaw can be found in it. As if awakening from a long sleep, not fully understanding the meaning of everything that happens, Adam is filled with the energy of life, carefully looking into the eyes of the Creator of the world.

It is interesting that the master also creates the image of Eve, not yet created, but existing in the Great Plan. The viewer sees her image among the angels, under the left hand of the Lord. With undisguised interest, even curiosity, the first woman is watching the Divine act of creation.

Despite the fact that the image of God the Father was created majestically and his power is not questioned in any way, the viewer is born with a seditious idea that man and God in this work are rather equal partners, which is an undoubted innovation in the art of the Renaissance.

The author avoids saturated and spectrally pure colors. The color of the fresco is soft, muted. The only thing that gives the composition energy is the cloak of God the Father, painted in purple-red, a symbol of the all-encompassing power over the world.

The light background is intended to highlight the figures of the main characters. He attracts the viewer's eye to the very fact of Creation. Makes him imbued with the realization of the Greatness of God, His boundless Will and the power of His Creation.

The work today is one of the most recognizable in the world of painting.

The very fact of the transfer of Divine energy made this work extremely popular among contemporary artists and masters of computer design. A well-known company has long used a computer graphic image of the non-touching hands of Father and Adam as an advertisement. The plot is used not only in advertising, but also in mass culture, thanks to the versatility of the idea and the recognition of this part of the painting of the plafond of the Sistine Chapel.

The painting of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican was carried out by Michelangelo Buonarroti, an outstanding Renaissance master, practically alone from 1508 to 1512. - in record time for such a large-scale work. "The Creation of Adam", one of the central frescoes of the painting, is well known not only to art connoisseurs, but also to any active Internet user: few paintings can compete with it in terms of the number of edits in photo editors posted on the Internet.

The most common interpretation of the fresco's plot: God transfers vital energy to Adam. But in the "Creation of Adam" you can see other meanings. Some interpretations are of interest, especially if the author provides compelling evidence for his version. It is known that Michelangelo was well versed in anatomy. It is impossible to discern what you do not know yourself, so it is not surprising that the analysis of the picture from the standpoint of anatomy belongs to doctors.

In 1990, the Journal of the American Medical Association published an article by Dr. Frank Lynn Meshberger1. Dr. Meshberger refers to Michelangelo's sonnets, in which, in describing the act of creativity, the master assigns the dominant role to reason:
And the highest genius will not add
One thought to those that marble itself
Tait is in abundance - and only this is for us
A hand obedient to reason will manifest.

"A hand obedient to reason" and the thought hidden in the material are the key words, according to Dr. Meshberger. He claims that on the famous fresco, Adam is already alive in front of the viewer, that is, creation, as such, took place earlier, and the picture captures the moment of endowing Adam with intellect. At the same time, the lines in the image of God surrounded by angels and the clouds of God's Glory (pink "cloak") correspond to the outlines of furrows, convolutions and other anatomical structures on a section of the human brain.

Anatomical structures in a longitudinal section of the brain.



A look at the fresco "Creation of Adam" from the standpoint of neuroanatomy.

Dr. Stefano Di Bella and colleagues2 believe that a more accurate name for the fresco would be “The Birth of Adam”. In the rocky landscape, against which Adam is depicted, they see the outlines of the female body, and in the outlines of the group with the central figure of God - the womb after childbirth, which is located exactly above the womb of the alleged woman, i.e. in the projection of the place where the uterus is located and from where the person is born.

The contours of the female body (left) and a longitudinal section of the small pelvis of a woman with the uterus located there (right).



The imposition of the fresco "Creation of Adam" on the sketch of the female body.


Overlay of the fresco "Creation of Adam" on a sketch of a cross-section of a woman's small pelvis.

Both versions look quite reasonable and plausible. At the same time, it is difficult to imagine that one person, even with diligent studies of anatomy, caught the external similarity of the uterus and the brain and decided to encrypt both organs in one image. Michelangelo, quite possibly, did not even suspect that on the fresco he created, one could discern the brain or womb, but this is the power of a large work of art, that it awakens the imagination, everyone finds something of their own in it. Truth is in the eyes of the beholder of such a work, and sometimes it does not necessarily have to coincide with the true intention of the artist.

1 Meshberger FL. An interpretation of Michelangelo's Creation of Adam based on neuroanatomy JAMA 1990; 264 (14): 1837-41.
2 Di Bella S, Taglietti F, Iacobuzio A, Johnson E, Baiocchini A, Petrosillo N. The "delivery" of Adam: a medical interpretation of Michelangelo. Mayo Clin Proc. 2015; 90 (4): 505-8.

Hands reaching out to each other - the most famous (at least from the screensaver of Nokia phones) fragment of the Sistine Chapel fresco. But in Michelangelo's Creation of Adam, it is not the hands that are more important, but ... the brain

Fresco "Creation of Adam" 280 x 570 cm
Years of creation: 1511-1512
Located in the Sistine Chapel in Rome

This order was immediately disliked by the artist, who preferred sculpture to painting and had little experience in creating frescoes. Michelangelo suspected that the idea of ​​entrusting him with a job in which he was not strong was given to Pope Julius II by envious people. And although you cannot argue with the most powerful customer in Europe, out of a sense of contradiction, the master signed the contract as follows: "Michelangelo, sculptor." Sculpture is, according to Michelangelo's definition, "art that is carried out by virtue of subtraction." And if you look at the fresco through the eyes of a sculptor, "cutting off all that is superfluous" (in the words of Rodin), then unexpected outlines appear on the image.

The main part of the painting is nine scenes from Genesis, "The Creation of Adam" is the fourth of them. The action on the fresco froze a second before the start of the biblical story homo sapiens when God, who created man in his own image, “breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul” (Gen. 2: 7). But Michelangelo has his own interpretation: on the fresco, Adam is already able to breathe and move, but he is still an unfinished creation. What is lacking for the first person to become like God? As art critic, professor at Temple University in the USA Marsha Hall writes: "From the point of view of the Italian Renaissance, endowing a person with the ability to think meant being created in the image and likeness of God." Some researchers believe that here Michelangelo portrayed the Creator as the source of the mind literally - in the form of a brain.

1. Adam. His posture mirrored almost repeats the posture of the Creator - Adam is like God - only it is weak-willed and relaxed. Energy and life are poured into Adam by the divine stream of consciousness.

2. Brain. American physician Frank Lynn Meshberger was the first to note the similarity of the outlines of the cloak waving around God and his companions, with the outlines of the human brain. This point of view was supported by a number of physicians and biologists. Michelangelo, according to his friend and biographer Giorgio Vasari, “was constantly engaged in anatomy, opening corpses in order to see the beginnings and connections of the skeleton, muscles, nerves and veins ...” So the artist could well study in detail the contents of the cranium. And in the Renaissance, there already existed the idea of ​​the brain as a receptacle for the mind. It cannot be ruled out that Michelangelo visualized the idea on the fresco: the creative principle in the person of God with angels is, first of all, a thinking center.

3. Furrows demarcating parts of the brain. Meshberger and his followers believe that on the fresco the artist visually highlighted the main parts of the thinking organ and the lines corresponding to the lateral sulcus (separates the temporal lobes), the deep central sulcus (separates the frontal lobe from the parietal) and the parieto-occipital sulcus (separates the parietal lobe from the occipital) ...

4. Varoliev bridge. Contains pathways for nerve impulses between the spinal cord and the brain. The master of the 16th century hardly knew about these functions, but he depicted the outlines of the Varoliev bridge in a similar way.

5. Pituitary gland. Meshberger believed that the artist distinguished the anterior and posterior lobes of this organ associated with the endocrine system.

6. Two vertebral arteries. They are as sinuous as the flowing fabric in the fresco.

7. Middle frontal gyrus. Biologist Konstantin Efetov believes that the fresco represents the outer surface of the brain. In the middle gyrus of the frontal lobe, there is the oculomotor center, which simultaneously rotates the head and eyes. In Michelangelo, the contours of this gyrus correspond to the outlines of the Creator's hand, which is naked, although the sleeves of the tunic are long. This is a reference to the biblical: "To whom has the arm of the Lord opened up?" (Isa. 53: 1). According to Christian tradition, these words of the prophet are about Jesus, the new Adam, who will come to atone for the sin of the forefather.

8. Supra-marginal gyrus. According to modern science, it controls the complex movements of a person. On the fresco, the silhouette of a woman's head repeats the outlines of this gyrus. Marsha Hall believes that the artist here depicted Sophia, the Divine Wisdom. The Bible says that Wisdom was with God when he created the world and people (Prov., Ch. 8).

9. Angular gyrus. Its contours follow the outlines of the child's head. The art critic Leo Steinberg believes that the boy, whose shoulder is touched by God, is the Christ child, foreseeing his destiny.

PAINTER
Michelangelo Buonarroti

1475 - Born in Caprese (now Caprese-Michelangelo, Tuscany) in the family of a judge.
1488–1489 - Studied painting with Domenico Ghirlandaio.
1489–1492 - Studied at the school of sculpture by Bertoldo di Giovanni in the gardens of Lorenzo the Magnificent.
1498–1499 - Sculpted "Pietu" for St. Peter's Basilica.
1501 - about 1504- He created a five-meter statue of "David" from a block of marble spoiled by another sculptor.
1508–1512 - I painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
1534 - Finally moved from Florence to Rome.
1536–1541 - Worked on the Last Judgment mural in the Sistine Chapel.
1564 - Died of a fever in Rome. Buried in Florence in the Church of Santa Croce.