Picture fingers touching. The Creation of Adam is one of the most famous images in the history of world painting. Michelangelo

Dear friends. Hello everyone! I was away for a long time and did not take part in the discussions to which you invited me. But I have already returned home and am glad to communicate with you. On one of the high-speed trains on the way to Kiev, they kept playing a video about the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel , this fresco “The Creation of Adam” was especially often repeated. It is very famous and popular, I wanted to talk about it.

Michelangelo "The Creation of Adam" She is one of the most powerful, emotional and beautiful compositions of the Sistine Chapel paintings.

Grace was revealed to my eyes,
When they saw the imperishable fire
And the face is divine and inspired
The one with whom I am proud to be related.

If we weren’t a soul like the Lord,
We would be mired in despicable worthlessness,
And we are captivated by the beauty of the Universe,
And we strive to know the secret of eternity.

These poetic lines, written by Michelangelo himself, perfectly reflect the structure of his thoughts when creating the plot of “The Creation of Adam” on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Here the first man and his Creator are equal.

This is an athletically built young man with a limply outstretched hand, into which the mighty hand of the creator seems to pour vital energy. Courageous and beautiful, with his thoughts not yet awakened and his strength not yet revealed, he lies on the slope of a hill, stretching out his hands to the God who created him.

An angel looks over God's shoulder, amazed at the beauty of man. Adam's ideal youthful beauty seems to be developed in the images of naked young men - decorative figures framing small fields. In them Michelangelo shows inner life a person through the various movements of a beautiful naked body. With great skill, he introduces the decorative motif of oak leaves (a symbolic allusion to the della Rovere family, translated from Italian as “oak”, Pope Julius II came from this family), woven into garlands and decorating the shields of young men, holding a cornucopia of oak leaves and acorns in the hands of the young man, placing it at Adam’s thigh.

The bright and strong gaze of the Creator meets the gaze of a man waiting and thirsting, and a divine spark runs to Adam from the outstretched finger of his right hand. Michelangelo does not show us the creation of man, he conveys the moment at which he receives a soul, his passionate search for the divine. Under the left hand of God, in the host of angels, Eve remains, not yet created in the flesh.

The leading art critic V.N. Lazarev gives a very accurate description of Michelangelo’s masterpiece:“This is perhaps the most beautiful composition of the entire painting. Departing from Biblical text the artist gives it a completely new interpretation. Infinitely outer space God the Father is flying, surrounded by angels. Behind him flutters a huge cloak, inflated like a sail, allowing all the figures to be covered in a closed silhouette line. The smooth flight of the creator is emphasized by calmly crossed legs. His right hand, which gives life to inanimate matter, is extended. She almost touches Adam's hand, whose body lying on the ground gradually begins to move. These two hands, between which an electric spark seems to run, leave an unforgettable impression.

At this point, all the internal pathos of the image, all its dynamics, are concentrated. By placing the figure of Adam on a sloping surface, the artist creates the illusion for the viewer that the figure rests on the very edge of the earth, beyond which the infinite world space begins. And therefore, these two hands outstretched towards each other, symbolizing the earthly world and the astral world, are doubly expressive. And here Michelangelo makes excellent use of the gap between the figures, without which there would be no feeling of limitless space. In the image of Adam, the artist embodied his ideal male body, well developed, strong and at the same time flexible. I was right German painter Cornelius, who asserted that since the time of Phidias no more perfect figure had been created.".

For the first time, the idea of ​​human self-sufficiency and omnipotence sounds with such clarity."We won't give you, oh

Adam, neither specific place, neither your own image, nor a special duty, so that you choose the place, and the person, and the duty according to at will, according to your will and decision", - this is how the Creator addresses Adam in Pico della Mirandola’s treatise;“If, with the help of morality, passions are strained to reasonable limits, if with the help of dialectics we develop reason, then, excited by the ardor of the Muses, we will revel in heavenly harmony... And then, like the ardent seraphim surrounding us, we, full of divinity, will become to those who created us".

“And God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27.

“And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.” Genesis 2:7.

Michelangelo's Buonarroti, "The Creation of Adam"

When they talk about blossoming Italian Renaissance, then they remember the names of three titans - Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo. The creativity of each of them is a gigantic explosion of human thought, but the genius of Michelangelo surpasses all.

Michelangelo's work was influenced by the ideas of his contemporary era. Already during the artist’s lifetime, there were legends about the fanaticism with which he worked. It was this inhuman obsession with an idea, coupled with remarkable talent, that allowed him to create such works, at the sight of which to modern man It's hard to believe that they could have been created by a mere mortal.

In the Vatican there is a chapel built by order of Pope Sixtus IV and therefore called the Sistine Chapel. But it is famous for the fact that the view of the visitor, entering under the arches of the chapel, appears scenes on biblical themes, which are located on... the ceiling. Each fresco sounds like a hymn to the spiritual and physical beauty of man, his creative capabilities, it amazes with its careful delineation of figures, and all this adds up to a grandiose picture of the glorification of the Creator, Man and Reason.

Michelangelo worked on the painting of the ceiling and walls of the chapel from 1508 to 1512 by order of Pope Julius P. Scaffoldings were erected along the walls of the chapel especially for these purposes. Lying on them, the painter could begin to implement his plan. The testimony of contemporaries is amazing, according to which Michelangelo spent time in this position most time. Often the customer came to the chapel to see how the painter’s work was progressing. To the hot-tempered artist with an independent character, these visits seemed like attempts at control, and then Michelangelo deliberately threw various heavy objects from the scaffolding. The angry dad had no choice but to obediently retreat. Only true talent, which is beyond the boundaries of human conventions, could afford such treatment of the high priest.

In the central part of the ceiling, Michelangelo placed scenes of the creation of the world and the story of Noah. On the sides of the ceiling, in the spans, there are figures of prophets heralding the coming of the Messiah. They alternate with the Sibyls - female images Christianity, according to which the latter predicted the coming of the Savior to the pagans. Each figure is captured in a moment of spiritual concentration. They either read, or write down thoughts, or are absorbed in sound inner voice. Above the altar is main stage compositions - Last Judgment.

But the most famous and impressive fresco of all Sistine paintings- Creation of Adam. Many painters, long before Michelangelo, addressed this topic. The composition of the paintings was always the same: the Creator, with a single touch of his hand, calls to life Adam lying on the earth. But previous attempts artistic embodiment The images remained within the framework of conventional symbolism, and only under the brush of Michelangelo did the inspired forces of divine creation appear before the viewer with their own eyes. The beholder is fascinated not only by the idea contained in the fresco, but also by the masterly execution of what was conceived on the simple surface of the ceiling using paints. Idea and method merge into a powerful creative impulse, the spiritual and material become an indissoluble whole.

Piercing space, the Lord rushes in the void, which is death. He fills it with movement, which symbolizes the victory of life over death. From the rapid flight, the Creator's cloak swells like a sail in the wind. God extends his hand to the first man lying on the ground. Adam is still in the power of sleep, but he is already stretching out his hand towards the Creator, fixing his gaze on the face of the Father. His members are filled with life, one moment - and the person will take his first breath.

Smyslov and compositional center The fresco is a counter movement of the hands of God and Adam. They have not yet touched, but a spark is already ready to jump between them, which will ignite life in Adam. A careful look will notice that the eyes of the beholder and the hands extended to each other are not on parallel planes, but on intersecting ones. Due to this visual focus, Michelangelo creates the illusion of space on a flat surface with clearly perceptible movement, as if the painter himself is trying to breathe life into his creation.

Michelangelo is known not only as a painter, but also as an excellent sculptor, architect and even poet. He created such sculptural masterpieces, like the statue of "Bacchus" ( National Museum, Florence), the sculptural group “Lamentation of Christ” (St. Peter’s Cathedral, Rome), the statue “David” (Florence), “Moses” (Rome), “The Rebel Slave” and “The Dying Slave” (Paris, Louvre). Michelangelo designed the Laurentian Library in Florence, the Cathedral of St. Peter and the Capitol in Rome. In poetry, he is known as the author of madrigals and sonnets, many of which were translated into Russian by Andrei Voznesensky.

Michelangelo's famous fresco “The Creation of Adam” is based on the plot of the Bible. The work was created by order of Julius II. You can see the painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. The initial concept of the structure included the image of the 12 apostles, but by the end of the work over three hundred figures appeared: heroes of myths, the Old Testament, and the book of Genesis. This is how the Sistine Chapel turned out. The central fresco of the majestic structure is the Creation of Adam.

Story line

Michelangelo's painting "The Creation of Adam" was created in 1511. The story of God giving life to the first man, Adam, is presented. The vital spark is transferred from the Creator's finger to the human finger.

Description of the painting by Michelangelo “The Creation of Adam”

The work is located in a rectangle, size -3x6 m. Muscular male figure striking in beauty. Adam slowly reaches out his hand to God. An elderly man with a beard is surrounded by a group of angels. He looks apathetic, weak, and cannot straighten his arm completely. The Creator transmits the charge of life with his right hand. The two men's fingers are a few millimeters apart. There is still no known case in the history of art when God is represented in a painting horizontal position. The image of the Creator is presented as majestic, but it seems to the audience that a common person and the supreme being are equal. This is how the work often appears to visitors.

Historians and art historians interpret the Creation of Adam in their own way - they see the brain in the figures built around God. There is an opinion that the red cloth around the Almighty is a symbol of the uterus, the green scarf located below means the umbilical cord. The meaning of the painting “The Creation of Adam” lies in mysterious symbolism. The presence of the lady is of particular interest to world cultural figures. The woman on the left hand of the Lord is Eve, who has not yet been born. This is also one of the opinions.

Work context

Pope Julius II initiated the painting of the Sistine Chapel. Events were to take place in the building, and the atmosphere was expected to be appropriate for the importance. Michelangelo had not done frescoes before; he began working with Julius on the order of the tomb. Bramante, a competitor of Buonarotti, gave a different course of events. He convinced the Pope that painting a tomb while a person was alive was a bad sign, and the customer abandoned the idea. Bramante advised Julius to commission Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. It was necessary to add paint after the restoration process. The master agreed.

It was difficult to work. The contractor worked without help: selected materials, designed scaffolding. The author lost his health here. “The Creation of Adam” cost the master so much: arthritis, scoliosis, ear infection. Couldn't do without stressful situations. The pope abused Buonarotti's trust, paid for orders late, was not always satisfied with the result obtained, the master was forced to add or alter to suit the needs of the church. The frescoes amazed visitors with their beauty even before the work was completed. Bramante did not calm down: he let Raphael into the chapel to study the frescoes while the performer was not looking.

The actual color scheme of the frescoes has been lost. Soot, dirt, imperfect restoration attempts are the basis for the loss of part of Michelangelo Buonarroti’s “The Creation of Adam”. The fact of transferring God's energy to the common man made the picture popular among contemporary artists, computer designers. Famous company I used a computer for a long time graphic image like advertising. Where else is the “Creation of Adam” located in the images? The plot is noticeable in popular culture. The idea of ​​transferring the spark of life from the Creator to man is unique and multifaceted. There is no direct confirmation of divine action, but there are no refutations either.

Until recently, Michelangelo was considered not an ideal colorist, but restoration work restored the original color scheme frescoes The Sistine Chapel has been transformed - The Creation of Adamai, and other works have acquired rich colors. In terms of painting technique, the painting is on a par with the masterpieces of Buonarotti's predecessors - Giotto and Masaccio.

Let's analyze all these oddities.

So, what was Michelangelo hiding when he painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel?

One of the best frescoes The ceiling of the chapel is “The Creation of Adam”.

Michelangelo. “The Creation of Adam” (1511).
Fresco of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

Leaning on his right arm, the young and beautiful, but not yet spiritualized body of the first man reclines on the ground. Flying surrounded by a host of wingless angels, the Creator of Hosts extends his right hand to Adam’s left hand. Another moment - their fingers will touch, and Adam’s body will come to life, gaining a soul. When describing this fresco, art critics usually note that Hosts and the angels, united into a single whole, fit very well into the picture, balancing the left side of the fresco. That's all.

However, looking more closely at what the artist created, you suddenly realize that Adam is revived by the Lord, depicted not only as a bearded old man surrounded by angels, but also in the image of a huge brain, repeating in detail the structure of the human brain.

Comparison of a fresco fragment
"The Creation of Adam"
with a picture of the human brain

Any biologist or doctor should understand this, knowledgeable anatomy. But century after century passed, and only after half a millennium Michelangelo’s plan was revealed to us. The master encrypted in this fresco the idea that spiritualization was accomplished By a higher mind. Why didn’t Michelangelo even hint to his contemporaries during his lifetime what he actually depicted? The explanation suggests itself. The artist could study the structure of the brain only by dissecting corpses. And for the desecration of a dead body in the time of Michelangelo, the death penalty. And if seventeen-year-old Buonarroti had been caught while he was studying anatomy, secretly dissecting corpses in the mortuary of the monastery of Santo Spirito in Florence, then the very next day his own corpse would have hung in the window opening on the third floor of the Palace of the Signoria, and the world would never have seen future masterpieces Michelangelo. Since then memorable days 1492, when, dissecting the dead and making anatomical drawings, the artist studied the structure human body, almost twenty years passed before the creation of the fresco “The Creation of Adam” on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (1511). But, despite such a long period of time, the correctness with which Michelangelo depicted the convolutions and grooves of the human brain is striking.

The similarity of the “Creation of Adam” fresco with the human brain was first noticed by the American doctor Meshberger in 1990. But he came to the conclusion that Great master depicted internal structure brain For the first time, I was able to discover that Michelangelo showed the outer surface of the brain in a fresco and depicted the convolutions and sulci with great accuracy.

Outer surface of the human brain

The lateral groove separating the frontal lobe of the brain from the temporal lobe is easily discernible. The superior and inferior temporal sulci delimit the middle temporal gyrus. The right shoulder of Hosts is the middle frontal gyrus. The profile of one of the angels follows the central, or Rolandic, fissure, which is the border between the frontal and parietal lobes of the brain. And finally, the heads of two angels behind the creator’s back are nothing more than the supramarginal and angular convolutions. In addition, it is clear why Michelangelo did not depict the cerebellum. The fact is that the artist did not know about the existence of a growth of the dura mater (the so-called tentorium cerebellum), which wedges between big brain and the cerebellum. Therefore, when Michelangelo removed the brain from the skull during the autopsy, he destroyed the cerebellum. Medical students often make the same mistake when performing their first autopsies on corpses.

Too many similarities in the details of the fresco with the convolutions and grooves of the brain cannot be explained by simple coincidences.

But that's not all. Michelangelo loved to paint nudes human nature. At the same time, he gave a clear preference to the beauty of the male body. American writer Irving Stone, who wrote a wonderful biographical novel about Michelangelo, puts the following words into his mouth: “I believe that all beauty, all bodily power lies in a man. Look at him when he is in motion, when he jumps, fights, throws a spear, plows, lifts a load: all the muscles, all the joints that take on the strain and heaviness are distributed in him with extraordinary proportionality. As for a woman, in my opinion, she can only be beautiful and exciting in a state of absolute peace.” When an artist depicts women, he often draws their male muscles. Just look at the Cumaean Sibyl in the Sistine Chapel.

Michelangelo. “Cumae Sibyl” (1510).
Fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

Michelangelo creates nudes of Bacchus, David, a group of warriors on the cardboard “Battle of Cascina”, slaves for the tomb of Julius II, sculptures in the Medici Chapel, many figures on the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel. He even depicts Christ naked!

Michelangelo. "David" (1501–1504). Florence

Michelangelo. “Battle of Kashin” (1542)

For example, the sculptures “The Crucifixion” (1494) in the Church of Santo Spirito in Florence and “The Risen Christ” (1519–1520) in the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome represent God the Son completely naked.

Michelangelo. “Crucifixion” (1494) in the church
Santo Spirito in Florence

Michelangelo. “The Risen Christ” (1519–1520)
in the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minevra in Rome.
Reproduction from a book published in 1977

Not only Christ, but also the Mother of God, as well as all the saints in the Last Judgment fresco, were depicted by Michelangelo without clothes. Later, when the outstanding artist Paolo Veronese (1528–1588) was brought to trial by the Inquisition for the liberties of his work “The Feast of Simon the Pharisee,” the defendant, in defense, referred to the “Last Judgment.” Romain Rolland, in his book about the life of Michelangelo, quotes Veronese’s words at his trial: “I admit that this is bad, but I repeat what I have already said: it is my duty to follow the example of my teachers. Michelangelo in the papal chapel in Rome depicted the Savior, his most pure mother, St. John, St. Peter and other saints, and presented them all naked, even the Blessed Virgin Mary, and in poses that were by no means canonical...”

Bernard Berenson (1865–1959), a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Letters who lived most of his life in Italy, wrote about Michelangelo's work: “His passion was the nude, his ideal was strength. Humility and patience were as unfamiliar to Michelangelo as to Dante, as to the creative geniuses of all eras. Even experiencing these feelings, he would not be able to express them, for his naked figures are full of power, but not weakness, horror, but not fear, despair, but not submission.”

To understand the origins of Michelangelo's worldview, it is necessary to remember that from the age of 14 (in 1489–1492) he was brought up at the court of the Duke Lorenzo Medici Magnificent, who noticed the boy’s talent and brought him closer to himself as an adopted son. Thanks to this, the young artist was surrounded by works from childhood ancient art, was present at the philosophical debates of the Florentine Platonic Academy. He was greatly influenced by the Neoplatonists Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499), Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494) and other prominent representatives of the academy.

Portraits of the Neoplatonists Marsilio Ficino, Angelo Poliziano, Cristoforo Landino and Demetrios Chalkondyles.
Detail of a fresco by Domenico Ghirlandaio from the Church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence (1486–1490).

Ficino reworked Platonism and the mystical teachings of late antiquity and interpreted them in the spirit of adaptation to the basic tenets of Christianity. His apology for earthly beauty and human dignity contributed to overcoming medieval asceticism and influenced the development of visual arts and literature. Pico argued that every person combines the earthly, animal and Divine principles. In the reasoning of Ficino, Pico and others, it appeared most important characteristic humanistic anthropocentrism – a tendency towards the deification of man. Ficino, rejecting Christian asceticism, interpreted Platonic eros (love) as a creative impulse, as the aspiration of the human personality towards perfection, supersensual beauty (Dynnik et al., 1957; Losev, 1960; Gorfunkel, 1970; Lavrinenko, Ratnikova, 1999).

Admiration for antiquity, however, did not supplant Michelangelo’s Christian faith. And all my life two hostile world, the pagan world and the Christian world, fought for his soul.

Romain Rolland writes: “ Great creator wonderfully beautiful forms, a deeply religious man, Michelangelo perceived physical beauty as something divine; beautiful body- This is God himself, appearing in a bodily shell. And, like Moses before the burning bush, Michelangelo approached this beauty with awe.”

And therefore, Michelangelo did not see anything reprehensible in the depiction of the reproductive organs. He admired them just as he admired other parts of the human body - the most perfect, from his point of view, creature, created in the image and likeness of the Lord himself. But this position was too difficult to defend in the 16th century! Pope Paul III's master of ceremonies, Biagio da Cesena, spoke of the Last Judgment as follows:

“It is complete shamelessness to depict so many naked people in such a sacred place, who, without shame, show their private parts; such a work is suitable for baths and taverns, and not for the papal chapel.”

Michelangelo immediately placed Cesena in the underworld in the form of a naked Minos with donkey ears. Minos' body is entwined with a huge snake, which bites off his genitals. And when the master of ceremonies asked the pope to order the artist to remove this image from the fresco, Paul III replied to Cesena: “If he had placed you even in purgatory, I would still have tried to rescue you, but he hid you in hell, and my power is not in hell.” distributed by".

Michelangelo. Fragment of the fresco “The Last Judgment”

But when Paul IV became pontiff, clouds gathered over the “Last Judgment.” There was a moment when the fresco was going to be completely destroyed. Fortunately, the matter ended only with the “dressing” of some naked bodies.

Another known fact: when in 1504 Michelangelo finished work on the sculpture of a naked David in Florence, it had to be guarded because David was being stoned by the townspeople. David's chaste nakedness outraged the modesty of the Florentines. There was a period when the “immodest parts” of the sculpture were covered with gold leaves.

Centuries passed, but the psychology of hypocrisy did not change. Recently even the sculpture of the Risen Christ was “dressed”.

Michelangelo. "The Risen Christ" (1519–1520)
in the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome.
Photo by the author. September 2005

Michelangelo never allowed himself to paint God the Father naked. Such blasphemy could have cost him his life. Now let’s take a close look at the fresco “The Creation of the Stars and Plants.” So why is Hosts depicted from the back, and why does the fabric fit so tightly around some parts of the body? Let's trace Michelangelo's lines without finishing anything.

Let's flip the image -

Michelangelo. Fresco fragment
“Creation of luminaries and plants”

After all, the fresco is on the ceiling and can be viewed from any direction. It is obvious that the artist painted a huge male reproductive organ in a state of excitement. The image is almost one and a half meters long! Moreover, from the point of view of anatomy, everything is shown extremely accurately. Doctors know that in men the left testicle is often lowered slightly lower than the right one, which is clearly visible when examining the scrotum: this is how the testicles are suspended on the spermatic cords. You can read about this in any textbook or atlas of anatomy for medical universities. Michelangelo, who knew anatomy thoroughly, depicts the scrotum in exactly this way in the sculptures “David” and “The Risen Christ”. The structure of the genital organ is also presented on the fresco “The Creation of the Stars and Plants”: right part the scrotum is slightly elevated compared to the left. Coincidence even of such small parts leaves no doubt about what the artist depicted.

V. D. Dazhina (1986), the author of a series of publications about Michelangelo, without even suspecting what is actually depicted in the fresco “The Creation of the Lights and Plants,” very accurately noted that this pictorial composition “amazes with the power of the tension expressed in it, which arose as a result of overcoming the inert inertia of matter.” Perhaps there is no better way to say it.

In addition, on the same fresco we see an image of female genitalia, which are located just opposite the male genital organ. The clitoris, labia minora and majora, and genital slit are clearly drawn.

Michelangelo. Fresco
“Creation of luminaries and plants”

Michelangelo. Fresco fragment
“Creation of luminaries and plants”

What Michelangelo encrypted giant images genitals, absolutely clear. He gave us too many clues for this, not only with all his creativity, but also with specific symbols of the Sistine Chapel. This and images huge amount naked figures on the ceiling and the altar wall of the chapel, and the head of a snake, clearly indicating the genital organ of Minos, as was already written above.

Why exactly the brain and genitals? The fact is that information transmitted by intelligent beings to subsequent generations can be of two main types:

1. Genetic, or hereditary, the transfer of which from parents to children is ensured by the genitals. The penis is nothing more than a “syringe” that injects DNA into the body of the expectant mother.

2. Non-hereditary - the transition of which from generation to generation is ensured by the brain, which creates new information in the form of works of art, oral, handwritten and printed texts, and now also films, computer databases, etc.

Therefore, it is not surprising that Michelangelo focused specifically on the genitals and the brain.
The thought of the great master is clear: first the fertilizing principle (genitals) created, and only then the spiritualizing principle (the brain that animates the human body) was activated.

Now it becomes clear why Michelangelo reacted so calmly when Daniele da Volterra, on the orders of the pope, disfigured the Last Judgment with draperies. He just laughed in his heart at mouse fuss blind people who did not see the main symbols on his frescoes.
Michelangelo was never able to reveal his secret during his lifetime. The sword of the Inquisition hung over his head. Let's remember that in 1540 the Jesuit Order was established in Rome, and in 1542 the congregation of the “Holy Inquisition” was founded. Michelangelo's enemy, Pietro Aretino, drew up a denunciation in which he accused the great master of heresy. And heretics have a direct path to the stake. Romain Rolland described this terrible time for the artist as follows: “There were many people who were loudly indignant at the Last Judgment.” And, of course, Aretino shouted the most. He wrote a most impudent letter worthy of Tartuffe. Aretino, in essence, threatened to denounce the artist to the Inquisition, “for it is a lesser crime not to believe oneself than to so boldly encroach on the faith of others.” This vile letter from the blackmailer, where everything most sacred to Michelangelo - faith, friendship, honor - was desecrated and trampled into the dirt, this letter, which he was unable to read without contemptuous laughter and tears of humiliation, Michelangelo left without an answer. It is no coincidence that he spoke with devastating irony about some of his enemies: “Is it worth fighting them, such a victory is not a great honor!” And even when they began to listen to Aretino and Biagio’s judgment about the Last Judgment, the artist did nothing to stop the slander.”

What could Michelangelo do? Only respond with your art. He encrypted another symbol in the “Last Judgment” in the image of St. Bartholomew. About this, art critic A. A. Guber says the following: “...On the skin that Bartholomew holds in his left hand, they found a self-portrait of Michelangelo himself, and in Bartholomew - a resemblance to Pietro Aretino. If this is so, then one can only marvel at Michelangelo’s courage: in one of the most prominent places on the altar wall, he depicted his main enemy, under the guise of a holy martyr, with a knife in his hand, flaying his own skin.”

Michelangelo. Fragment of the fresco “The Last Judgment”
on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel

The great master constantly balanced on a razor blade. But they still didn’t touch him. Only genius saved Michelangelo from the fire, poison, noose and knife. After all, popes had to build cathedrals and their own tombs, decorate the walls and ceilings of palaces and chapels with great frescoes. But if they knew the meaning of the main encrypted message, then nothing would help Michelangelo. Therefore, he was forced to take the secret with him, relying only on us - the descendants.
Thus, in the work of the great master we have discovered two techniques that are now well known and often used by surrealist artists. The first was called “double image” (in English known as “double vision”), or “ambiguous image” - when, after peering at the picture, the observer suddenly distinguishes the second, often hidden meaning. Michelangelo has this hidden image of the human brain. Another technique is more complex: to see the background, the picture needs to be rotated 180°, less often 90° or another angle. These paintings were called “upside-down images.” I was able to discover for the first time exactly such an image on the fresco of the Sistine Chapel “The Creation of the Stars and Plants.” As already mentioned, the fresco dates back to 1511. I am not aware of any earlier use of inverted double images. Apparently, Michelangelo is the creator of this new method in world art.
The work of the great Florentine was carefully studied by the classic of surrealism Salvador Dali (1904–1989). This is evidenced by at least a series of paintings by Dali, inspired by the work of Michelangelo. Two of them based on the Pieta and the Creation of Adam are given below as an example:

Salvador Dali. “Pieta” (1982)

Salvador Dali. “A character inspired by the figure of Adam from the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome (1982)

The technique of double images is widely used in Dali's works. These are “The Invisible Man”, and “The Great Paranoid”, and “Vanishing Images”, and the famous “Slave Market with the Appearance of Voltaire’s Invisible Bust”. And the painting “Swans Reflected in Elephants” is nothing more than an upside-down image.

Salvador Dali. "The Invisible Man" (1929)

Salvador Dali. "The Great Paranoid" (1936)

Salvador Dali. "Vanishing Images" (1938)

Salvador Dali. "The Slave Market with the Appearance of Voltaire's Invisible Bust" (1940)

Salvador Dali. "Swans Reflected in Elephants" (1937)

As examples of double images and upside-down images, we can cite several samples (the Internet is now flooded with them) posted on the website http://gluk.blin.com.ua. Some of them have very original signatures.

Drawing by American psychologists E. J. Boring
and R.W. Leeper. “The Ambiguous Mother-in-Law” (1930).
What do you see: a young charming woman or an old woman with a huge nose?

Crow or fisherman with fish?

Flip image rotated 180˚.
This drawing is known as “Beauty and Alcohol”, or “Before and After Six Beers”

Horse-frog. Upside-down image.
To see the frog, you need to turn the picture over, but only 90˚

A girl's face or flowers and a butterfly?

A girl's face or two horses?

Landscape or baby in the womb?

Head American Indian or an Eskimo at the entrance to the house?

George the Victorious.
Face or battle with the serpent?

"Love of a Clown"

"Society. Portrait."

Soldier or horse?
Flip image rotated 180˚

The old man or someone else?

Speaking about double images, one cannot help but recall the work of another 16th-century artist - Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527–1593). He was born in Milan, but spent most of his life in Prague, in the service of the Habsburg emperors. Beginning in 1563, Giuseppe created a series of unusual paintings that were double images. These are portraits made up of fruits, flowers, vegetables, fish, birds, mammals, books, household items, etc.

Giuseppe Arcimboldo. "Summer" (1563)

Giuseppe Arcimboldo. "Earth" (1570)

Arcimboldo also used the technique of inverted images, but this was more than 50 years after a similar innovation in the work of Michelangelo.

Giuseppe Arcimboldo. "Cook-Still Life" (1567)

Giuseppe Arcimboldo. "Cook-Still Life" (upside down)

Giuseppe Arcimboldo. "Ortolano", or "Gardener-Still Life", (1590). Cremona. Upside-down image. To see the gardener, you need to turn the picture 180˚.

Giuseppe Arcimboldo. "Ortolano", or "Gardener-Still Life", (1590). Cremona. Upside-down image. (upside down)

Salvador Dali called Giuseppe Arcimboldo the forerunner of surrealism. I am ready to argue that the forerunner of surrealism was in fact the great Michelangelo. Before Arcimboldo, he began to use double images and first images. Only, unlike Arcimboldo, he invested a deep philosophical meaning in the duality of his masterpieces.

After reading the above, the reader may ask: “Is it possible to find encoded information in other works of Michelangelo?” After all, it is difficult to imagine that only in the Sistine Chapel the master placed secret symbols. Analyzing the work of the brilliant Florentine, you understand that almost every one of his works has its own secret. Moreover, much is already well known to art historians. Consider the sculpture "Pieta"

Michelangelo. “Pieta” (1499)

The Mother of God holds the body of thirty-three-year-old Jesus on her knees. But let's take a look at Madonna's face. We will see that Michelangelo depicted a mother who is younger than her son! When the sculptor was asked: "How can it be?" Michelangelo replied “Virginity gives freshness and eternal youth” . The youth of the Mother of God is a symbol of victory over time and death.

The sculpture of David is perfectly proportional; however, the observer's gaze is drawn to the right hand, squeezing a stone that will defeat Goliath in a moment. The fact is that Michelangelo specifically depicted the right hand on a larger scale compared to other parts of the body. This hidden symbol, which leaves no doubt: victory is a foregone conclusion! In addition, there is another manipulation with age. The Bible says that David was a young boy when he fought Goliath. He is so small that he has to fight the enemy without clothes, since King Saul’s armor turned out to be too big for him. This is exactly how David is portrayed by Michelangelo's predecessors. Just look at the sculpture of Donatello, whose hero is a young man with a rather weak physique, and his hat, long hair and with a childish figurine he looks more like a girl. Michelangelo's David is an adult man (much older than biblical David) with powerful muscles. He looks more like Hercules or Apollo. And this has its own meaning: Michelangelo’s David the Giant (sculpture height 4.54 m) is a symbol of the invincibility of the Florentine Republic.

Donatello. "David"

There is another secret in the sculpture depicting the Duke Giuliano Medici(c. 1533), installed in the Medici Chapel in Florence. He ruled for only a short time, but became “famous” for his participation in the bloody restoration of Medici power in Florence. The face of the sculpture does not have portrait resemblance with a real Duke. With this technique, the master demonstrated his complete indifference to the real appearance of the person being depicted, thus expressing indifference to him as a character in the story. When the lack of resemblance was pointed out to Michelangelo, he stated: “He doesn’t look like him now, but in a hundred years everyone will imagine him just like that.”.

Michelangelo. "Giuliano de' Medici Duke of Nemours" (c. 1533) in the Medici Chapel. Florence

We have already written above about the symbols of the Last Judgment fresco: here is Biagio da Cesena in the image of a naked Minos, losing his manhood, and the scoundrel Aretino, who flayed the artist himself.
And finally, let’s take Michelangelo’s first sculptural work – the relief “Madonna of the Stairs”. On foreground The Mother of God sits with the baby Jesus. Behind her, a staircase is visible, on which the boy John (who in the future will become John the Baptist) is standing, leaning on the railing. The composition is constructed in such a way that the beam of the railing, reminiscent of the base of the cross on which Jesus will be crucified, rests on Mary’s palm. Right hand John, located perpendicular to the railing, enhances the similarity of the entire structure with a cross. The idea of ​​the symbol is this: Mary took upon herself the full weight of the cross, which will be (and she knows it) the instrument of murder of her only Son. This work was created in 1490. The aspiring sculptor was only fifteen years old!

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Art critic Marina Khaikina and psychoanalyst Andrei Rossokhin look at one painting and tell us about what they know and what they feel. For what? So that, (dis)agreeing with them, we more clearly realize our own attitude towards the picture, the plot, the artist and ourselves.

"The Creation of Adam"(Sistine Chapel, Vatican, Rome, 1508–1512) - fourth of nine central compositions a cycle of frescoes on the theme of the creation of the world, commissioned by Michelangelo Buonarroti to decorate the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel by Pope Julius II.

“To live is to create”

Marina Khaikina, art critic

“Michelangelo wrote God in the ancient spirit: he is real in his physical and divine incarnation. Dressed in a simple pink tunic, God flies over the created world, surrounded by wingless angels. Female figure to his right is Eve, she is still waiting for the hour of her creation, but has already been conceived by God. During the flight, God turns, rushes towards Adam and stretches out his hand to him.

This movement towards one's creation embodies the energy of life that the Creator intends to transmit to man. The figure of the Creator is mirrored in the pose of the reclining Adam, created in his image and likeness. But at the same time, Adam’s pose also follows the outline of the rock: he is still only part of the landscape around him. There is literally not enough spark of vitality to breathe soul into him.

Hands almost meet. Michelangelo places this gesture at the very center of the fresco and pauses to enhance the impact of the images. We practically see how energy is transferred through the brush of God to the hand of man. Choosing this very moment from the history of the creation of man - the birth of the soul, Michelangelo equates it with creative insight. In his opinion, the ability to create and create is the most valuable gift that is given to a person from above.

Between two hands stretched out to each other, a miracle is performed that is inaccessible to our vision. This gesture was already seen in Leonardo da Vinci; but if the angel in his painting “Madonna in the Grotto” only pointed to a miracle, then here the gesture of God embodies it. Subsequently, this gesture will be repeated by many other artists - agreeing or arguing with Michelangelo’s faith in man and in the power of creativity.”

“We are born at the moment of parting”

Andrey Rossokhin, psychoanalyst

“The first thing I feel here is a moment of unique meeting, which is full of energy and strength. God rushes towards Adam to breathe life into him. Now their fingers will close - and the flaccid body will be born, gain strength, life, and fire will be lit in Adam’s eyes. But at the same time, I have a subtle feeling that God and his retinue are moving in the other direction, flying away from Adam. This is indicated by the figures of a woman and a baby; they seem to push away from him, and thereby set the reverse movement.

Why? I suppose that Michelangelo unconsciously painted here not a meeting, but the moment of parting that followed it. God personifies both the paternal and maternal principles at the same time, their union leads to the birth of a child - the baby Adam. The maternal principle of God is conveyed through the red veil, which I associate with the maternal womb, with the maternal universe, the womb, in which many future lives, potential human “I”s, are born. The hands of Adam and God stretched out towards each other are like an umbilical cord that was severed a moment ago, and it is this moment of separation that I observe in the picture.

And in this case, Adam’s melancholic pose conveys not the absence of life, but the sadness of parting. He does not yet know that only thanks to such a separation can he be born as a person, as a separate “I”. The fingers of God and Adam in the painting are like a painter's brush, and I think this is very important. Michelangelo unconsciously lives the story of separation from two sides - both as Adam and as the Creator.

I see here not only the sadness of a child abandoned by a parent, and the sadness of an artist forced to say goodbye to his brainchild, his painting. But also the artist’s determination to take this step. After all, only when he finds the strength to part with his creation will the painting be completed and be able to live its own life.”

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564), Italian sculptor, artist, architect, outstanding master Renaissance. All over the world, the name Michelangelo is associated with the frescoes of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, the statues of David and Moses, the Cathedral of St. Peter's in Rome. In the art of Michelangelo enormous power embodied as deeply human ideals High Renaissance, as well as the tragic feeling of crisis in the humanistic worldview, characteristic of the late Renaissance era.

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