Arcadópolis
Nudity. This work is shown blurred, as in the Museum.Show work
The Creation of Adam
Michelangelo, c. 1508–1512
What you see
Adam, nude, reclines on a green slope on the left and stretches out his arm, his hand limp. From the right comes God, a gray-bearded elder flying within a great reddish cloak, surrounded by small figures who bear him along. His index finger reaches toward Adam’s. The two arms form a single line across the sky, and the eye runs along it.
The pale, nearly empty sky leaves the bodies to carry everything. Adam’s skin is warm, his muscles modeled by soft light; God wears a light pink tunic. Watch for the faces peering out from under God’s left arm, the green cloth fluttering below and the fine cracks in the plaster.
About Michelangelo
Michelangelo Buonarroti saw himself above all as a sculptor, but the pope asked him to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. He worked for four years on scaffolding, painting hundreds of giant figures above his head. He was also an architect and a poet, and lived to be almost 89.
More by Michelangelo
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