"The Creation of Adam" By: Michelangelo Buonarroti

     

       





    Michelangelo Buonarroti was an intriguing and very talented artist of the late 1400s and early 1500s.  He  created many great works of art, many that are still recognized today.  He lived a difficult life but still came out strong with many works of art, some that came from his life problems.  One of his greatest and most known works of arts is the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.  There are many panels, all with a different religious scene going on.  This is one of many paintings that show his creations and fine skill.

            Born and died “creating works of great beauty,” Michelangelo Buonarroti was born near Florence in 1475, specifically in Caprese, a small town in the hills of Tuscany.  He died in 1564, in Rome, known as one of the best artists of all time.  His family went through hard times.  His mom died when he was only six years old.  He started school at ten years old and three years later he decided he wanted to become an artist.  After his father heard about this, he beat him.  But after some thinking, Michelangelo was allowed to work as apprentice for Dominic Ghirlandaio, who was a big painter in Florence.  He learned many things form working for Domenic.  In 1489, he was invited to learn about classical sculpting in the Medici Palace.  He was taught by Bertoldo de Giovanni who used to be a student of Donatello, another great and well known artist.  Michelangelo was so talented that he was able to be educated with the head of the Medici family’s son.  But in 1496, he was forced to search for work in Rome after problems that were occurring in Florence.  In 1516, after many works of art were created, he went to work for the Medici family.  He never married anyone but worked throughout his life mainly as an architect, but at the same time creating many great paintings and sculptures.  Some of his best sculptures are as followed: The Battle of the Centaurs, The Madonna of the Stairs, Bracchus, Statue of Sorrow, St. Matthew, Taddei Tondo, the famous Sistine Chapel ceiling and many more.

            The Sistine Chapel ceiling is a very elaborate work of art, painted by Michelangelo in 1508 and he finished in 1512.  Pope Julius II requested that Michelangelo paint the chapel ceiling. Julius was determined that Rome should be rebuilt to emphasize its previous power and he really wanted to get the job done.  Michelangelo started to develop a belief in Spiritualism, after he was catholic for which The point of Spiritualism is that the path to God can be found not exclusively through the Church, but through direct communication with God.  It is said he developed this belief by being in the Church so much.     It is also said that parts of the body such as the brain influenced his work.  In one of the panels there is a picture and one of the men’s faces are lifted and underneath it looks like a brain with the stem.  I chose to focus on the “Creation of Adam” because I felt there was more of a meaning than what was shown and I felt that
when you looked at it, there was a force of power.  In this panel, there is an image of the human brain shown behind God, this was put there because of Michelangelo’s interest in drawing the brain.  Michelangelo had a meaning behind painting this panel that shined through his sonnets that he wrote.  He understood that his skill was in his brain and not actually in his hands. He believed that the "divine part" we "receive" from God is the "intellect".  So, this painting didn’t really mean religious things to him but it meant the
true meaning of art.

            The Creation of Adam panel shows Adam and God reaching toward one another, arms outstretched, fingers almost touching. I imagined the spark of life jumping from God to Adam when he was created coming from between their fingertips. Adam is portrayed as real and alive, with his eyes wide open, and he is also completely formed.  It looks to me as though Adam is to "receiving" something from God.  It is shown through their hands.  I think that their hands play a big role in this painting because there is an electrifying force that draws your eyes straight to the hands.  They are almost touching but they are not fully there yet.  This painting reminded me of how Michelangelo lost his mother when he was young.  His mom was gone and he was reaching for her but she wasn’t really there.  It is in one respect his mother leaving but a new life of Adam being created with Eve under God’s arm ready to “fly away” also.  This painting has many layers of meaning and whatever you see when you get that first spark by looking at this
painting is your interpretation of this.  It was never meant for one interpretation, it was meant for many, because God didn’t have one way in which things had to be.

            The “Creation of Adam,” part of the Sistine Chapel ceiling painting created by Michelangelo Buonarroti is truly amazing and shows not just a great artist but a very developed person mentally.  When some people see this painting, the just see Adam and God but if you look past that and take control of your thoughts then you will find a deeper meaning, all relating back to power, life, and reaching but never being able to touch.  I am proud to call Michelangelo one of my idols not just because of his highly advanced works of art but also for working so hard and never giving up when he went through tough times, which he went through a lot.


Creating Life
An outstretched finger, reaching for the light,
God as his savior giving light to life,
With a single breath,
And an electrifying force,
And goodbye to his creator,
And Buonarroti’s goodbye to his mother.

With a wish and a prayer, and a burning desire,
Eve will appear under the arms of our father.
Seeking life and hope with his body bare,
Adam is created with a pull that they share.
His mom is gone, the mother of Buonarroti,
Into the heavens of God, never to return
To make him happy.

A life never forgotten and another one made,
Into the world above, in which the clouds create.
The Creation of Adam, born and alive,
Where life was first created,
With God’s first cry.


Resources:
Jen Green, Michelangelo.  Pages 5-7, 22, 29.

http://arthistory.about.com/od/famous_paintings/a/sischap_ceiling.htm

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2010/05/27/michelangelos-secret-message-in-the-sistine-chapel-a-juxtaposition-of-god-and-the-human-brain/

http://www.wellcorps.com/Explaining-The-Hidden-Meaning-Of-Michelangelos-Creation-of-Adam.html