The creation of Adam by Michelangelo. “The Creation of Adam” - Everything secret will become clear

On the ceiling Sistine Chapel many, many frescoes. Each of them is worthy of many hours of attention of a tourist, many years of work of an art critic and the enthusiastic words “Mamma mia!” But there is a main exhibit in this extravaganza - “The Creation of Adam”. Snezhana Petrova explains why this particular fresco is considered the pinnacle of Michelangelo’s work.

"The Creation of Adam", Michelangelo (1511)

Plot

“And God created man in his own image and likeness.” So you can describe the fresco in one sentence. Rather, this fresco was painted so that the events hidden behind one sentence appeared before the eyes of people.

“The Creation of Adam” is part of the composition on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The Creator, looking as if just after conversations with Aristotle, all sort of antique, in flowing robes, soars with the angels in infinite space. Behind God’s shoulders there is also Eve, who is still in the plans, but will soon join the company of the first man.

Adam himself is a stunningly beautiful, ideally built young man. Even the angels seem surprised at how beautiful God made him. The figure of the Creator is mirrored in the pose of the reclining Adam, which recalls in whose image man was created.

God's right hand, extended to Adam, almost touches his fingers. It is obvious that the very process of the Creator turning to his creation began shortly before the events in the fresco. And it is precisely this process that is the reason that Adam, who was previously indifferent to the world, gradually awakens to life in both body and spirit.

Attention is focused on the fingers that are about to connect. Apparently, it was Michelangelo who was later stolen by the filmmakers. Remember, all these scenes when one hero is on the verge of falling and asks for help, the second is trying to hold him, their hands reach out to each other and... intrigue!

Although, of course, in the 16th century this plot device carried other connotations. By the fact that their hands do not touch, Michelangelo emphasized the impossibility of connecting the divine and the human. In fact, this fresco is not about the creation of man as a biological species, but about the creation of personality. After all, God appears here not as a breeder, but as energy, a particle of which is about to be given to man. Between two hands stretched out to each other, a miracle is performed that is inaccessible to our vision.

Before painting the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo did not paint frescoes.

Prospectors are looking hidden characters, which Michelangelo allegedly encrypted in the frescoes. And as you know, he who seeks will find. Seen by hunters secret meanings parts of the human body - from the brain to the phallus.

Context

The initiator of the painting of the Sistine Chapel was Pope Julius II. Important events were to take place here, so the environment had to be appropriate.

Due to lack of money, he gave Michelangelo to be raised by peasants

Michelangelo never painted frescoes, and he hardly planned to. And the collaboration with Julius II generally began on a different project - the sculptor was commissioned to create a tomb for the pope. But then Bramante, Michelangelo’s envious rival, intervened in the story. It was Bramante who convinced Julius that the tomb during his lifetime was not good; Buonarroti lost the order. But Bramante’s machinations did not end there. He persuaded the pope to order Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel - it just needed to be freshened up after the restoration.

Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (click to enlarge image)

Michelangelo accepted the challenge. He chose the materials himself and designed the scaffolding himself. I had to work on the edge physical capabilities. After painting the chapel, Buonarroti could even read for a long time only by holding the text high above his head. Plus arthritis, scoliosis and ear infections. All this is the price to pay for a masterpiece. Not to mention the stress. Either dad leaves to fight and forgets to pay for materials, then after long downtime starts to force the deadline, then he will say that he needs to add blue and gold (otherwise it looks rather poor). In general, needless to say, the church is not an easy customer.

But Michelangelo coped with everything. Dad was pleased. The frescoes themselves amazed people even before they were completed. The same Bramante let Raphael into the chapel to study the frescoes of the vault while Michelangelo was not looking.

In fact, we do not know the true color scheme of the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel. Hundreds of years of all kinds of troubles, soot, dirt, unsuccessful attempts at restoration have led to the fact that part of the work done by Buonarroti was lost.

The fate of the artist

Tuscany. March. Another child was born into the family of an impoverished Florentine nobleman. Michelangelo. There was a catastrophic lack of money to feed all the children, so the father of the family got out as best he could. For example, Michelangelo was given to foster care ordinary people to the village. There the child learned what clay is and how to work with it. He didn’t yet know how to write or read, but he was already wielding his chisel with all his might.

Michelangelo learned to work with clay before he could read and write.

Later, while studying with professional sculptors, Michelangelo noticed Lorenzo de' Medici. And if Lorenzo de Medici noticed someone, it means that this person is guaranteed orders, income, and a well-fed life. After the death of his patron in 1492, Michelangelo made his own way. His main customer is the church. He worked alternately in Rome and Florence. Mainly he was engaged in sculpture.

Portrait of Michelangelo Buonarroti. Jacopo del Conte, 1540

Michelangelo was a terrible, even terrifying perfectionist. He could quit half-done work if he noticed that something did not fully correspond to his plan. And he completely burned many of his drawings shortly before his death. The same fate awaited the sketches - Michelangelo did not want anyone to see the pain in which art was born.

In his old age, Michelangelo wrote passionate sonnets to his 40-year-old muse

Buonarroti gravitated towards sculpture primarily, but was both an artist and an architect. Anyone the customer wishes. A versatile genius. He even wrote poetry. This talent revealed itself with particular force in his seventies, when the maestro began writing messages and sonnets to Vittoria Colonna.

Michelangelo died quietly and calmly at the age of 88, giving, according to his own will, his soul to God, his body to the earth, and his property to his relatives.

“And in the same way follows the creation of Adam with the image of God leaning on a group of naked angels of tender age, who seem to carry not only one figure, but the whole weight of the world, which is shown by the greatest awe of the Lord’s majesty and the nature of his movement: with one hand he embraces angels, as if leaning on them, but he extends his right hand to Adam, painted so beautifully, in such a position, with such outlines that it seems as if he was created again by his highest and original creator, and not by a brush and according to the plan of man." Vasari.

One of the most beautiful images murals of the Sistine Chapel - the first man Adam awakening to life. 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.

Along with "La Gioconda" by Leonardo da Vince, this is one of famous images in the world, since the second half of the 20th century. became worldwide symbol. Man, as the most beautiful of God's creations, created in the image and likeness of the Lord, is one of best incarnations human image era of humanism. It is believed that in the frescoes of Sistine, Michelangelo left many secret allegories, for example, the mantle covering God and the angels supporting him resembles the outline of the human brain. It is known that Michelangelo secretly dissected corpses during his studies in order to thoroughly study physiology; it is quite possible that he knew what the brain looked like.

On the ceiling of Sistine is the birth of the first man, the creation of Adam by God. 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.".

Look at the figure of Adam awakening to life. She is still helpless, submissive, as if weak-willed, and yet one feels that there is a tremendous power within her, which is just waiting for the opportunity to unfold in all its glory.

And what a beauty is Adam’s face with his eyes directed towards God, in which there is the same call and the same expectation as in his hand! As Lazarev notes, God the Father is like a sculptor extracting a figure from a chaotic block of stone.

“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.

“The Creation of the World” is part of a grandiose fresco painted by Michelangelo Buonarroti on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The Sistine Chapel (the home church of the Roman popes in the Vatican) was built in 1475-81, during the time of Pope Sixtus IV , and its walls are still decorated with frescoes by remarkable masters of that time. The vault originally depicted a sky strewn with stars, and in 1508 Pope Julius II commissioned thirty-three-year-old Michelangelo to paint it. The artist accomplished the truly impossible: in four years he painted on a ceiling of 600 square meters. More than 300 figures from the most complex angles! Moreover, the technique of the so-called “pure fresco”, painting on wet plaster, is very complex, since it requires speed and accuracy from the master. Let us add that Michelangelo worked in an extremely uncomfortable position - lying on a specially designed platform, constantly wiping off the paint that dripped onto his face. He painted the vault almost alone: ​​the apprentices were entrusted with only minor details of the frames. For each figure, the artist made many sketches and a life-size sketch (cardboard), but it was still impossible to assess the unity of the composition while the work was covered with scaffolding. The more amazing is the perfection of the fresco!

Michelangelo - not only a sculptor, painter, architect, but also a wonderful poet - was a sensitive reader of the Bible, and the compositional form he found surprisingly accurately reflects the very mosaic structure of the Old Testament, which arose over the centuries, consisting of many books, which, although very different from each other stylistically, they nevertheless form one monumental whole. All parts of the fresco, be it a plot scene or a separate figure, are complete and self-sufficient, but they naturally flow into general composition, are subordinated to a single rhythm, and the repeating elements of the frame are figures of naked young men, medallions and architectural details- they liken the painting to a complex ornament, as if woven from human bodies.

Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

Man is not just the main, but the only theme of both sculptural and paintings Michelangelo. Unlike other Renaissance masters, for whom a keen interest in man did not exclude attention to what surrounds him - nature, architecture, the world of things, Michelangelo knew only one means of expression: plastic human body. In the paintings of the Sistine Chapel, landscape, interiors, clothing, objects are present minimally, only where they cannot be avoided; they are generalized, not detailed and do not distract from the narrative of human actions, characters, passions. This concentration of the artist on the main thing could not be more in keeping with the style of biblical tales, in which dramatic plots are presented concisely, in a few spare, epically succinct phrases, and this concentration of feelings is much more impressive than any other flowery story. The language of plasticity - language, form, color - sounds in Michelangelo as powerful, laconic and sublime as the verses of the Bible; the pathos of the Book of Books is embodied so naturally, convincingly and freely that any other interpretation of familiar plots seems impossible.

The first day. Separation of light from darkness

“...and God separated the light from the darkness. And God called the light day and the darkness night."

The Book of Genesis corresponds to nine compositions occupying the central field of the vault (from the entrance to the chapel to the altar). To get acquainted with them in the sequence in which the stories are presented in the Bible, you need to go to the altar and begin the inspection, moving from the entrance. Five scenes are dedicated to the creation of the world: “The Separation of Light from Darkness”, “The Creation of Lights and Plants”, “The Separation of the Firmament from the Water”, “The Creation of Adam”, “The Creation of Eve”. (Fromacts of Michelangelo did not choose all the episodes of the six days of Creation and changed the sequence of the selected ones)

Day four. Creation of the luminaries

"let there be lights in the firmament of heaven..."

It seems that it was in these compositions that Michelangelo invested the most personal things - who, if not him, the obsessed sculptor, was close to the pathos of creation! Combat with inert matter, create new beautiful bodies from a shapeless, unspiritualized mass, sculpt them from clay, carve them from stone - this inspired work fascinated the master most of all: it was not for nothing that he compared sculpture with the sun, and painting with the moon. The author of the famous fresco always considered himself first and foremost a sculptor, often repeating: “Painting is not my craft.” Michelangelo's God appears before us as the Sculptor of the Universe who conquered chaos.

Day three. Separation of solid from water

“... the water that is under the sky will be gathered into one place, and dry land will appear... And God called the dry land earth.”

The face of Hosts is sometimes almost distorted by the torment of creativity (“The Creation of the Lights”), sometimes beautiful in its concentration (“The Creation of Adam”). His powerful muscular body, his strong hands sensitive hands like they radiate energy. God does not need to touch his creations - they obey his confident, free gestures. In “The Separation of Light from Darkness” Hosts spreads shapeless clouds of fog to the sides, and we seem to hear the noise of the great world-creation. With strong-willed waves of his hands, he sends luminaries to the sky, gives life to plants, pacifies the water element, and with a majestic movement brings the feminine, submissive Eve out of Adam’s rib.

Day six. Creation of Adam

“And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him.”

In “The Creation of Adam” - admittedly the most beautiful composition of the entire painting - from the imperious hand of Hosts to the still limp, trembling hand of the first man, a stream of life-giving force almost visibly emanates; and it is unlikely that in world art one can find a more accurate formula of “creativity and miracle-working”, a more capacious metaphor of the unity of the material and spiritual, earthly and heavenly, than these two hands striving for each other, already almost touching.

Day six. Creation of Eve

“...male and female he created them”

Shortly before his death, Michelangelo destroyed all his rough sketches and sketches -

Contents of the article:

In the book of Genesis, the Pentateuch of Moses sets forth the “theory” of God’s creation on Earth of the first man in His image and likeness. In the work of the famous Italian artist Michelangelo's "Creation of Adam" from the Middle Ages used exactly this biblical story.

Michelangelo's painting "The Creation of Adam"

This work belongs to the fresco painting technique that reached its highest development in Renaissance Italy:

1. The classic technique for painting this way is to use paints applied over wet plaster. The latter contains lime, which, when dried, covers the image with a thin film of calcium salts and thereby gives it strength for a long time;
2. This creation of the artist (even more than a sculptor) was created in this manner during the period of his work in 1508-1512 on the painting of the ceiling (ceiling) of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. It was the central link of a huge composition, which was commissioned by Pope Julius II.
3. It is believed that the author based the plot of the fresco on the process of “ensouling” by the Almighty beautiful body young men, transforming it as a result precisely into Living being endowed with soul and vital energy. This is evidenced by the gestures of the hands of God and man, directed towards one another, symbolizing their mutual attraction. It seems that they are about to close... however, this is not a fact, it is only an illusion. The heavenly and the earthly are separated here.

How did Michelangelo fulfill the order of Pope Julius II?

The process of work was not at all easy for the artist in every sense.

Being generally more committed to the art of sculpture, Michelangelo was by no means eager to paint frescoes on the ceiling of the temple. He did not have such experience, and he received this specific order from the pope as a result of the intrigues of his ill-wishers.

Initially, Buanarotti asked familiar artists to help him master a new style of painting, but he quickly understood everything and refused their services, preferring to work alone. True, two assistants worked with him, one of whom mixed the paints, and the other covered the surface with lime, on which the master subsequently applied his brilliant strokes.

By the way, it was not at all easy to do this psychologically and even purely technically, since the specifics of this type of art did not allow corrections and amendments. I had to work straight away. Here the artist was helped by the talent of the sculptor and the “volumetric vision” of the future image, he even felt a taste for a new business.

True, after its completion, it took me a long time to come to my senses after constantly seeing the paintings from bottom to top, since I had to work lying down. For some time he even read books only in this position.

Where is the painting?

From all of the above, you already understand that it is one of the frescoes (but the most important) on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the capital of Italy - Rome:

• The latter is now Renaissance Art Museum, and since that time conclaves have been held in its premises - the election of each new Pope. Its famous church choir is also widely known;

• The chapel was built in the last quarter of the 15th century by order of Pope Sixtus IV (from which it received its name) and at first it was a house church. The architect and construction manager was Giorgio de Dolci;
• The walls and ceiling of the temple were painted by famous medieval artists, among whom, in addition to Michelangelo, are Raphael, Botticelli, Perugino, Ghirlandaio, Roselli and other famous masters;
• In a grandiose fresco composition on the rim of the church, the artist placed 9 paintings from Holy Scripture from the creation of the world. Among them, in addition to the one mentioned, there are also picturesque stories about the separation of land from water and light from darkness, the Fall and expulsion from paradise, the creation of luminaries, etc.
• The last reconstruction of the chapel frescoes was carried out at the end of the 20th century.

What does "Creation of Adam" mean?

The artist embodied in his temple paintings episodes the creation of the world and its inhabitants as he himself was, and as he understood the world.

The Genesis of Moses says that God created man from the dust of the ground and placed a soul in him so that he became a living being. Michelangelo's frescoes speak of the process of creation in terms of earthly, physical, carnal activity.

Even the Almighty appears to him not as a philosophizing old man, but as a powerful and active old man. He seems to be translating words from spiritual state into a bodily sensation.

Being himself a fighter, he, in his illustrations of the first book of Holy Scripture, shows the power of Divine inspiration and his real results, when a harmonious Universe emerges from the surrounding Chaos. He shows his vision of the events of the Book of Genesis, not paying attention to established opinions and interpretations of this on the part of the church.

The result is a conscious humanization of God, but at the same time he depicts the process of Adam’s awakening to life precisely by the power of the spirit, without physical contact.

It was as if a spark of God ran between them, the main spiritual impulse that finally made him exactly human.

The Sistine Chapel as a symbol of power

The semantic meaning of the term “chapel” is quite diverse:

• It concerns both architectural structures relatively small forms such as the House Church for one family (although there are also separate buildings large sizes), as well as the place inside the temple where the choir of singers was located, and the name of this choir itself.
• In many dictionaries, singing ensembles are called cappella, and singing “a cappella” means without musical accompaniment, with only voices;
• This word is often translated into Russian as chapel, which is not entirely accurate, since the latter is not intended for worship and there is no altar in it, as in specific Catholic churches. The latter includes the famous Sistine Chapel.

However, during its construction, the architects were given a dual task: in addition to purely specialized religious functions, it was supposed to serve as a fortress for representatives of papal power during popular uprisings. This problem was solved: from the outside the building is shaped like a bastion, and from the inside, by the luxurious design of the courtyard, walls and ceiling, it shows the greatness and significance of the church's papal power.

Michelangelo's ingenious fresco "The Creation of Adam" was created more than 500 years ago, but still amazes the imagination. This is the power of true talent.

Video: what else could Michelangelo’s creation mean?

This excerpt from the TV series “Westworld” will present another version of what the “Creation of Adam” mural could mean:

If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter. We'll fix it quickly!
Thank you!

“The Creation of Adam” (Italian: La creazione di Adamo) is a fresco by Michelangelo, painted around 1511.

Construction of the Sistine Chapel in Rome began during the pontificate of Pope Sixtus IV in 1475, the same year when, not far from Florence, in the small town of Caprese, a second son was born to the family of Lodovico di Lionardo di Buonarroti Simoni, who received the name Michelangelo. This name is now known to everyone and is inextricably linked with the Sistine Chapel.

Knowing the details of the life of the brilliant sculptor, artist, architect and poet, one cannot help but be amazed at the titanic power that was contained within him. It was she who made it possible to withstand failures, seemingly insurmountable obstacles, and sometimes simply the mockery of fate that abounded life path masters

In 1508, Pope Julius II summoned the famous sculptor from his native Florence to Rome. Michelangelo already has behind him such masterpieces of sculpture as “The Lamentation of Christ” and “David”. It would be logical to assume that Julius II would invite the sculptor to sculpt a new statue. But no. At the instigation of Michelangelo’s ill-wishers, and primarily the Urbino-born architect Donato Bramante, who patronized his fellow countryman, the young Raphael Santi, and wanted to get his competitor out of his way, the pope invites Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The ceiling area is about six hundred square meters! The enemy's plan was simple.

Michelangelo. Creation of Adam. 1511 Fresco of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

Firstly, to distract the master from his main business - sculpture. Secondly, in case of refusal, he would bring upon him the wrath of the pontiff. Well, if Michelangelo still agrees, then, most likely, the sculptor will not be able to create anything worthwhile, and Raphael’s advantage will become undeniable. Considering that up to this point Buonarroti had hardly worked fresco painting, it is easy to understand why the sculptor initially asked the pope to entrust this order to Raphael. But, meeting the harsh insistence of Julius II, Michelangelo was forced to agree.

The artist accomplished his feat in just 26 months (working intermittently from May 10, 1508 to October 31, 1512). He painted the ceiling while lying on his back or sitting, throwing his head back. At the same time, his eyes were flooded with paint dripping from the brush, and his body was torn by unbearable pain from the uncomfortable position. But he created a creation that, in its grandeur, content and perfection, ranked central place in art High Renaissance. Goethe wrote: “Without seeing the Sistine Chapel, it is difficult to form a clear idea of ​​what one person can do.”

Undoubtedly one of the best frescoes ceiling of the chapel - "The Creation of Adam". Leaning on right hand, the young and beautiful, but still inanimate 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 historians 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.

Comparison of a fragment of the fresco of the Creation of Adam and an image of the human brain

However, looking more closely at the artist’s creation, you suddenly realize that Adam is not revived by the Lord, but by a huge brain, repeating in detail the structure 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 that the act of creation was accomplished by the universal 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 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 Michelangelo's future masterpieces. Since then memorable days 1492, when the artist studied the structure of the human body, almost twenty years passed before the creation of the fresco “The Creation of Adam” on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. However, despite such a long period of time, the accuracy with which Michelangelo depicted the convolutions and grooves of the human brain is striking.

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 repeats the central, or Rolandic, sulcus - 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 supra-marginal and angular convolutions.

It is interesting that details of the structure of the brain can be discerned both in the folds of hosts’ clothes on the fresco “Creation of the Sun, Moon and Plants”, and in the outline of the fabric on the fresco “Separation of land from water and the creation of fish”.

Eighty-nine-year-old Michelangelo's last words on his deathbed were: "What a pity that I should die when I had just begun to read syllables in my profession."

One can only sadly add: “What a pity that only five hundred years later we learn to read syllable by syllable what the great Master gave us.”