Michelangelo’s Unusual Hidden Messages in “The Creation of Adam”
Discovered 500 years after it was painted
A white-bearded guy outstretches his arm toward a naked young guy. Adam (on the left) nearly touches God’s forefinger (on the right) as the Almighty imparts a spark of life into him. The first Biblical human looks very much like his Maker.
“God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him.” — the First Book of Moses (Gen. 1:27)
The Creation of Adam is one of the most famous paintings in art history. Painted by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564), the fresco depicts one of nine episodes from the Book of Genesis. Every year around 5,000,000 tourists see it on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.
In an oval-shaped red cloth, God is carried by angels to Adam lying on a freshly created earth. Twelve figures surround the Creator. The English art critic Walter Pater believed the character under God’s left arm is Eve: She has a feminine face and gives Adam a specific look. The other 11 figures are their unborn children. Other critics believe the woman is the Virgin Mary, an “angel of the masculine build.”
