Fresco Michelangelo Buonarotti "The Creation of Adam" - one of the nine central episodes of the ceiling painting of the Sistine Chapel. Undoubtedly, it is one of the most impressive and powerful compositions not only in this building, but also among other paintings painted in the Italian High Renaissance.

The Sistine Chapel was built by order of Pope Sixtus IV, who at that time was in very tense relations with Florence and the Medici family.

The huge rectangular room was intended as a shelter during the war with the Florentines and Turks. Later, when relations improved, Florentine artists were invited to paint the chapel, and the building became a masterpiece of creativity. Italian masters who painted its vaults.

On a high verdant hill lies the first man created by God - Adam. He has just appeared on earth. His physical body is beautiful, but his soul is still asleep. Finishing his creation, the Almighty looks at what he created from heaven.

Surrounded by angels, he rushes through the air to Adam, stretches out his hand to his creation, so that God's spark appears in the human body. As if sensing the presence of God, Adam's hand reaches out to him.

The index finger of the Creator almost touches index finger breathless, newly created human being, but at the same time an unusually small gap is preserved, which gives this fresco an incredible tension and the charm of a frozen vision.

Michelangelo's innovation lies in the fact that the medieval image of Adam the sinner - weak, weak-willed and kneeling before the face of the great God - is inferior to the image of the strong courageous titan of the Renaissance.

Surprising is the fact that this fresco should be orthodox, since it is depicted inside the papal chapel, but the ideas and canons of the High Renaissance were embodied in it.

The idea of ​​a man created in the image and likeness of the Existent, the ascension of the divine and great in human creation and even equality earthly man God in creativity and spiritual aspirations is a very bold concept after the medieval worldview. Man here is a creature born for knowledge, inspiration, exploits and great accomplishments.

Spectators are impressed by the scale and monumentality of the fresco. This creation has become a masterpiece and even a symbol of Western European art.

The Renaissance fresco of the creation of the first man by Michelangelo Buonarotti is a masterpiece within a masterpiece. And the thought involuntarily comes to mind that it was created by God, and not by the hand of an ordinary earthly person.

This fresco was created in 1511 or so. It became the fourth of the nine central compositions of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, dedicated to the nine plots of the book of Genesis of the Old Testament.

Recall the line referring to this fresco:

And God created man in his own image

(Gen. 1:27) However, this is not entirely accurate. In a good way, here a person has already been created, and therefore new nuances appear in the interpretation of the fresco.

It is very likely that there is a third element in the plot of this work of art. main character, and it is directly related to the neurosciences and neurology. Dr. Frank Lynn Meshberger, gynecologist at St. John in Anderson, Indiana, in a 1990 Journal of the American Medical Association article An Interpretation of Michelangelo's Creation of Adam Based on Neuroanatomy, suggests that this hero is the human brain.

Indeed, all the works of Michelangelo in the field visual arts- both painting and sculpture - speak of the master's excellent knowledge of human anatomy. Remember at least an amazing study human body in David. Even in his Lives of the Artists, Michelangelo's contemporary and colleague Giorgio Vasari recalls that the artist often observed autopsies. This is what made it possible for Meshberger to assume the presence of some hidden message in this fresco.

Here is what he writes:

The Creation of Adam fresco shows Adam and God moving towards each other, hands outstretched to each other, their fingers almost touching. One can imagine a "spark of life" jumping from God to Adam through the "synapse" between the index fingers. However, Adam is already alive, his eyes are open, and he is fully formed; but nevertheless, the picture tells us that Adam "receives" something from God. I believe there is a third "protagonist" in the fresco that was not previously recognized. I will try to show using anatomical drawings by Frank Netter from The CIBA Collection of Medical Illustrations, Volume I - The Nervous System.

Let's follow Meshberger's thought.

Here are four drawings, numbered 1 to 4:

As you can see, the first and second drawings are very similar, as are the third and fourth. Numbers 1 and 3 are drawn from the atlas of neuroanatomy by Frank Netter

Figure 6 (numbered according to the cited article) shows the left side surface brain and sulci and gyrus that are present in the hemispheres. Sylvian sulcus, or lateral sulcus, is a sulcus that separates the hemispheres of the brain. Figure 1 - draw this illustration.

Figure 8 is a drawing of the section of the brain and spinal cord shown in Figure 7. Figure 3 is obtained from Figure 8 by removing the cerebellum and midbrain structures, as well as by “flexing” the spinal cord back from the “standard” anatomical position.

And now - a surprise! Figures 2 and 4 are drawn ... from the image of God and angels on the fresco by Michelangelo. Figure 2 is obtained by drawing the outer "shell" and furrow, and Figure 4 is the outer "shell" and big lines on the figures of God and angels.

Don't believe? See:

Michelangelo Buonarroti, The Creation of Adam

When they talk about flourishing 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.

The work of Michelangelo was influenced by the ideas of his contemporary era. Already during the life of the artist there were legends about the fanaticism with which he worked. It was this inhuman obsession with the idea, coupled with remarkable talent, that allowed him to create such works, at the sight of which modern man it is hard to believe that a mere mortal could create them.

In the Vatican there is a chapel built by order of Pope Sixtus IV and therefore called the Sistine. But it is famous for the fact that the visitor entering under the vaults of the chapel sees 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 possibilities, it strikes with a careful outline of the figures, and all this adds up to a grandiose picture of the glorification of the Creator, Man and Reason.

Michelangelo worked on painting the ceiling and walls of the chapel from 1508 to 1512 by order of Pope Julius P. Especially for this purpose, scaffolding was erected along the walls of the chapel. Lying on them, the painter could begin to implement his plan. The testimonies of contemporaries are amazing, according to which Michelangelo spent in this position most time. Often a customer came to the chapel to see how the painter's work was progressing. To the quick-tempered, independent artist, these visits seemed to be attempts at control, and then Michelangelo deliberately threw various heavy objects from the scaffolding. The angry dad had no choice but to obediently retreat. Such treatment of the high priest could only afford true talent which is outside the bounds of human conventions.

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 announcing 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 at the moment of spiritual concentration. They either read, or write down thoughts, or are absorbed in sound. inner voice. Above the altar is the main scene of the composition - Last Judgment.

But the most famous and impressive fresco of all the Sistine paintings is the Creation of Adam. Many painters long before Michelangelo turned to this topic. The composition of the canvases was always the same: the Creator, with a single touch of his hand, appeals to the life of Adam lying on the ground. But previous attempts at the artistic embodiment of the image remained within the framework of conditional symbolism, and only under the brush of Michelangelo did the inspired forces of divine creation appear before the viewer with their own eyes. The viewer is captivated not only by the thought contained in the fresco, but also by the virtuosic execution of the ceiling conceived on a simple surface with the help of paints. The idea and the method merge into a powerful creative impulse, the spiritual and the material become an inseparable 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 swift flight, the Creator's cloak swells like a sail in the wind. God stretches out 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 limbs are filled with life, one moment - and a person will take a breath for the first time.

The semantic and compositional center of the fresco is the oncoming movement of the hands of God and Adam. They have not yet touched, but a spark is already ready to slip between them, which will ignite life in Adam. A careful look will note that the eyes of the beholder and the hands outstretched to each other are not on parallel planes, but on intersecting ones. Due to this visual focus, Michelangelo on a flat surface creates the illusion of space with a 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 a poet. He created such sculptural masterpieces as the Bacchus statue ( National Museum, Florence), sculptural group"Lamentation of Christ" (St. Peter's Cathedral, Rome), the statue of "David" (Florence), "Moses" (Rome), "Resurrected Slave" and "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 Andrey Voznesensky.

Works of art can carry a certain hidden meaning which can sometimes be deciphered. We offer you a selection of ten masterpieces of painting in which we managed to find secret signs.

1. "Mona Lisa": in her eyes there is a hidden code

As a rule, the power of the "Mona Lisa" is attributed to the intriguing smile depicted on the face of a woman. However, historians from Italy have found that if you look at the Gioconda's eyes under a microscope, you can see letters and numbers.

Experts say that these subtle numbers and letters represent something like the "Da Vinci Code" in real life: the letters "LV" are visible in the right eye, which may well mean the name of the artist, Leonardo da Vinci, and there are also symbols in the left eye, but they have not yet been identified. It is very difficult to see them clearly, but most likely they are either the letters "CE" or the letter "B".

In the arch of the bridge in the background you can see the number 72, or it can be the letter "L" and a deuce. In addition, the painting shows the number 149 with a 4 erased, which may indicate the date of the painting - da Vinci painted it during his stay in Milan in the 1490s.

It is important to remember that the painting is almost 500 years old, so the hidden signs are not as sharp and clear as they could be immediately after its creation.

2. "The Last Supper": hidden in the picture are mathematical and astrological puzzles and a musical melody

« The Last Supper"is the subject of much speculation, usually centered on alleged hidden messages and allusions encoded in the painting.

Slavisa Pesci, an information technologist, achieved an interesting visual effect by superimposing a mirrored translucent version of the painting on top of the original. As a result, two Templar-like figures appeared at both ends of the table, and another person became visible to the left of Jesus - perhaps a woman with a baby in her arms.

The Italian musician Giovanni Maria Pala pointed out that the position of the hands and the bread could be interpreted as notes in piece of music, and if read from right to left, as was typical of Leonardo's writing style, they form a musical composition.

Vatican researcher Sabrina Sforza Galizia claimed to have deciphered the "mathematical and astrological" puzzle contained in The Last Supper. According to her, the artist predicted global flood and the coming end of the world, which will begin on March 21, 4006 and end on November 1 of that year - she believes that this will be the beginning new era for humanity.

3. "Creation of Adam": the divine origin of the mind

The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo has stood the test of time not only as the most famous fresco Sistine Chapel, but also as one of the most iconic images in the history of mankind.

Michelangelo is recognized as one of the the greatest artists and sculptors of the Italian Renaissance, but it is not widely known that he carefully studied anatomy and, at the age of 17, dismembered corpses dug up in a church cemetery.

American neuroanatomy experts believe that Michelangelo did use some anatomical knowledge when working on the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel.

Although some may consider this a coincidence, experts suggest that it is unlikely that Michelangelo could have written something similar in the painting by chance: even the outlines of such difficult parts brain like the cerebellum, optic nerve, and pituitary gland. And in the very figure of Adam, stretching out his hand to God, you can see the outlines of the pons and spine.

4. Frescoes in the Sistine Chapel: some of them show parts of the human brain

As in the case of the "Creation of Adam", among the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel there is another painting with the figure of God, containing a secret message.

Experts noticed that the chest and neck of God have anatomical disorders that no other human figure on the murals has. In addition, while most of the figures are illuminated diagonally from the lower left edge, the sun's rays fall on God's neck at a right angle - the researchers concluded that the genius made such an inaccuracy intentionally.

If we superimpose the image of the strange neck of God on the photograph of the human brain, it becomes noticeable that the contours of both images almost completely coincide, and the strange rectangle of fabric extending to the center of God's garment can symbolize the spinal cord.

Michelangelo also depicted other anatomical features in some places on the ceiling, in particular the kidney, which was of particular interest to Michelangelo since the artist suffered from kidney stones.

5. "Madonna with Saint Giovannino": traces of UFO

The “Madonna with Saint Giovannino” by Domenico Ghirlandaio has an interesting detail: a strangely shaped drop hovers in the sky above Mary’s left shoulder.

In this place of the picture, a board-like object, possibly shiny, is clearly visible - the artist depicted this object before the smallest details, trying to place it in your work so that it catches the eye. In addition, on the right side of the picture we see a man who brought right hand to the eyes, showing how bright this object is, and in the upper left corner we see an object that looks like the sun.

The Madonna with Saint Giovannino is just one of many medieval paintings depicting strange, disturbing unidentified flying objects hovering in the skies.

6. "Prophet Zechariah": the power of religion

Tensions between Pope Julius II and Michelangelo are described in historical documents. Historians note that Michelangelo depicted the pope in one of his paintings as the prophet Zechariah, and one of the angels behind him makes an extremely obscene gesture.

The figure in which the fingers of the charming are folded small child, is called "fig", but its meaning is not at all as sweet as the name: holding thumb between the index and middle fingers, he shows an old world gesture that has retained its meaning to this day. In the West, the gesture is not so common, but in Russia its meaning is well known.

7. "David and Goliath": mystical signs of Kabbalah

Analyzing the arrangement of figures on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, whose area is 1300 km², scientists have found shapes similar to Hebrew letters: for example, the figures of David and Goliath form the letter "gimel", symbolizing "strength" in the mystical tradition of Kabbalah.

Researchers believe that Michelangelo was introduced to Judaism while at court. Lorenzo Medici in Florence, and the entire Sistine Chapel, perhaps built to the same proportions as the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, is "a lost mystical message about universal love for decryption.

Source 8Flemish proverbs: 112 Dutch idioms in the picture

Flemish Proverbs is an oil painting on oak panel by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, filled with symbols referring to Dutch proverbs of the time.

In total, 112 idioms were found and deciphered in the picture: some of them are still used, for example, “swim against the current”, “big fish eat small fish”, “knock your head against the wall” and “arm yourself to the teeth”.

Other proverbs point to human stupidity. Some symbols seem to represent the meaning of more than one figure of speech, such as a man shearing sheep, left of center at the bottom of the picture sits next to a man, cutting pig, and this scene symbolizes the expression "Someone shears sheep, and someone shears pigs," which means that one person has an advantage over others. Also, the scene can also mean “Shear, but do not take off the skins,” that is, it warns not to go too far when using your abilities.

9. Supper at Emmaus: Christian Vow of Silence

"Dinner at Emmaus" - painting by Caravaggio, Italian artist the baroque era. The painting depicts the moment when the resurrected Jesus incognito stays in the city of Emmaus, but meets two of his disciples there and breaks bread with them, after which they recognize him.

The picture is unusual already in that the figures of people are depicted on a dark empty background in life size, and on the very edge of the table is a basket of food that looks like it's about to fall. There is also a strange shadow that looks like a silhouette of a fish, which may indicate a vow of silence as a requirement for Christians.

10. "Portrait of young Mozart": signs of Freemasons

Of course, the works of art have not bypassed the theme of Freemasonry: portraits of people hiding their hands can indicate dedication or a level of hierarchy. An example is the portrait of Mozart painted by Antonio Lorenzoni.

Michelangelo Buonarroti, The Creation of Adam (1511). Fresco. 280 x 570 cm
Sistine Chapel, Vatican, Italy

The Greatest Miracle appears before the viewer in all its splendor. The mystery, which will never cease to excite the imagination of a person, is interpreted by the great master in a very logical and harmonious way.
The Creator is flying in endless space, surrounded by helper angels. The last great Deed remained for the completion of the Creation of the world - the creation of man, the only living being similar in image and inner content to the Creator himself.

The gesture of God the Father is precise and sure. Divine energy has already begun to fill the body of the ideally built Adam, the first of the people.
Angels watch the Great Mystery of Creation with delight and reverence. Among the helpers of God there are many who are full of fear and bewilderment. What will this new, never seen before being be? What will it bring to this newly created world? Will the great trust of God justify?

The figure of Adam deserves special attention. The author creates this image with love and special care. Before the viewer is the very first person on Earth, and therefore he is ideal. Not a single flaw can be found in it. As if waking up from a long sleep, not fully understanding the meaning of everything that is happening, Adam is filled with the energy of life, carefully looking into the eyes of the Creator of the world.

Interestingly, the master also creates the image of Eve, not yet created, but existing in the Great Plan. The viewer sees her image among the angels, under the left hand of the Lord. With undisguised interest, even curiosity, the first woman observes the Divine act of creation.
Despite the fact that the image of God the Father is created majestic and his power is not questioned in any way, the viewer has a seditious idea that man and God in this work are rather equal partners, which is an undoubted innovation in the art of the Renaissance.

The author avoids saturated and spectrally pure colors. The color of the fresco is soft, muted. The only thing that gives energy to the composition is the cloak of God the Father, painted in purple-red, a symbol of the all-encompassing power over the world.

The light background is designed to highlight the figures of the main actors. It draws the viewer's eye to the very fact of Creation. Makes him imbued with the realization of the Majesty of God, His boundless Will and the power of His Creation.

9 characters encrypted in the "Creation of Adam"




Stretching for each other hands - the most famous fragment of the fresco of the Sistine Chapel.
But in the "Creation of Adam" Michelangelo is more important than the hands, but ... the brain

This order was not immediately liked by the artist, who preferred sculpture to painting and had little experience in creating frescoes.
Michelangelo suspected that the idea of ​​entrusting him with a job in which he was not strong was given to Pope Julius II by envious people.
And although you can’t argue with the most powerful customer in Europe, out of a sense of contradiction, the master signed the contract like this: “Michelangelo, sculptor.”
Sculpture, according to Michelangelo, is "an art that is carried out by virtue of reduction."

And if you look at the fresco through the eyes of a sculptor, “cutting off everything superfluous” (in the words of Rodin), then unexpected outlines appear on the image.

The main part of the painting is nine scenes from Genesis, "The Creation of Adam" is the fourth of them.

The action on the fresco froze a second before the beginning of the biblical story of homo sapiens, when God, who created man in his own image, “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7).

But Michelangelo has his own interpretation: in the fresco, Adam is already able to breathe and move, but is still an unfinished creation.
What is missing for the first man to become like God?

Marsha Hall, an art historian and professor at Temple University, writes:
"From point of view Italian Renaissance endowing man with the ability to think meant being created in the image and likeness of God.


Some researchers believe that here Michelangelo depicted the Creator as a source of intelligence literally - in the form of a brain.

1 Adam.
His posture mirror almost repeats the posture of the Creator - Adam is like God - only it is weak-willed and relaxed. Energy and life are poured into Adam by the divine stream of consciousness.

2 Brain.
The American physician Frank Lynn Meshberger was the first to note the similarity of the outlines of the cloak fluttering around God and his companions with the contours of the human brain.
This view was supported by a number of physicians and biologists. Michelangelo, according to his friend and biographer Giorgio Vasari, “was constantly engaged in anatomy, opening corpses in order to see the beginnings and connections of the backbone, muscles, nerves and veins ...”
So the artist could well study in detail the contents of the cranium. And in the Renaissance, there were already ideas about the brain as a receptacle for the mind.
It cannot be ruled out that on the fresco Michelangelo visualized the idea: the creative principle in the person of God with angels is, first of all, a thinking center.

3 Furrows delimiting parts of the brain.
Meshberger and his followers believe that on the fresco the artist visually identified the main parts of the mental organ and the lines corresponding to the lateral sulcus (separates the temporal lobes), the deep central sulcus (separates the frontal lobe from the parietal), and the parietal-occipital sulcus (separates the parietal lobe from the occipital lobe).

4 Varoliev bridge.
Contains pathways for nerve impulses between the spinal cord and the brain.
The master of the 16th century hardly knew about these functions, but he depicted the outlines of the pons varolii similarly.5 Pituitary gland. Meshberger believed that the artist identified the anterior and posterior lobes of this organ, which is associated with the endocrine system.

6 Two vertebral arteries.
They are as sinuous as the fluttering fabric on the fresco.

7 Middle frontal gyrus.
Biologist Konstantin Efetov believes that the fresco represents the outer surface of the brain.
In the middle gyrus of the frontal lobe is the oculomotor center, which simultaneously rotates the head and eyes. In Michelangelo, the outlines of the Creator's hand correspond to the contours of this gyrus, which is naked, although the sleeves of the tunic are long.
This is a reference to the biblical: "To whom was the arm of the Lord revealed?" (Isaiah 53:1).
According to Christian tradition, these words of the prophet are about Jesus, the new Adam, who will come to atone for the sin of the forefather.

8 Supramarginal gyrus.
According to modern science, controls the complex movements of a person. On the fresco, the silhouette of a woman's head repeats the outlines of this gyrus.

Marsha Hall believes that the artist here portrayed Sophia, Divine Wisdom.
The Bible says that Wisdom was with God when he created the world and people (Prov., ch. 8).

9 Angular gyrus.
Its contours follow the outlines of the child's head. Art critic Leo Steinberg believes that the boy, whose shoulder is touched by God, is the Christ child, foreseeing his fate.