The Creation of Adam
God stretches out his hand to give life to Adam. The scene is part of Michelangelo’s ceiling painting in the Sistine Chapel, which he painted over four years, standing on scaffolding.
The gap between the fingers is the centre of the picture – life has not yet been passed on.
In 1508 Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. Michelangelo saw himself above all as a sculptor and took on the commission reluctantly. He worked for four years, with the help of a few assistants, and the ceiling was shown for the first time at the end of October 1512. The Creation of Adam is usually dated to around 1511.
The ceiling is over forty metres long. Down the centre nine scenes from the Book of Genesis are told, from the creation of light to the drunkenness of Noah. Around them sit prophets and sibyls, naked young men known as ignudi, and the ancestors of Christ. The Creation of Adam is the fourth scene counting from the altar and is among the best-known images in Western art.
Adam lies half-reclining on a bare slope on the left. His body is perfect but still limp, and he wearily raises his left arm towards God. God comes floating in from the right, borne by angels inside a large, reddish cloak. He stretches out his right index finger. Between the two hands is a small empty space, and that is where the picture’s tension lies. Adam has already received his body, but the spark of life has not yet been passed on.
Under God’s left arm is a woman looking towards Adam, and by his hand a child. The woman has often been interpreted as Eve, not yet created, or as Wisdom. The child has sometimes been seen as Christ. These interpretations are not certain. The well-known idea that God’s cloak and angels form the shape of a human brain was put forward by a doctor in 1990 and is speculation.
Michelangelo painted in true fresco on scaffolding he had designed himself. He did not lie on his back, as is often claimed, but stood with his head bent back. In a poem he humorously describes how his body was contorted by the work. The figure of Adam was painted in only a few giornate. A crack in the vault later meant that parts of Adam’s fingers had to be repaired and repainted.
In the 1980s the ceiling was cleaned in a major restoration. Soot from candles and old layers of glue and varnish were removed. Strong, clear colours emerged that surprised many, since Michelangelo had long been regarded as a painter of dark tones. The restoration was controversial: some critics argued that Michelangelo’s own final layers had also been removed.
The image of the two hands has become one of the most copied images in the world. It is used in advertising, films and cartoons and has become a symbol of the very origin of life. The ceiling influenced artists for several generations, and Michelangelo later returned to the chapel to paint The Last Judgement on the altar wall.