The Creation of Adam, C.1510 - Canvas Print

This iconic emblem of Renaissance Humanism is, to many, one of the most recognizable emblems of faith, philosophical power, and revolutionary artistic innovation. A feature of “The Creation of Adam” section of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling decoration, this subtle moment in which the emotional charge and seismic bolt of energy that is about to connect man with God is the center point of one of the most important works in the history of painting. The intellectual environment of Michelangelo’s inner circle would have been replete with theories on the philosophical and cognitive abilities of man. The Renaissance period was key in reconsidering the status of man as an arbiter of divine will, and a turning point in the burgeoning fields of science and biology. As such, The Creation of Man can been seen as a meeting point of two worlds — the old world of divinity and the new world of scientific enquiry. While the artist betrays his awareness of the brain as the center of human thought, he retains divine relation as the motor of human individuality and of artistic inspiration. This small part of an immense and staggering fresco was completed between 1511 and 1512 by the artist’s horde of trained workshop painters. An irresistible surge of power that initiates the spark of knowledge and life makes the work captivating and almost impossible to turn away from. It is a testament to the paradigm shift of Renaissance thinking that is still the driving force behind the Western imagination, and a glorious articulation of all that is divine in man’s mortal place on earth.

This iconic emblem of Renaissance Humanism is, to many, one of the most recognizable emblems of faith, philosophical power, and revolutionary artistic innovation. A feature of “The Creation of Adam” section of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling decoration, this subtle moment in which the emotional charge and seismic bolt of energy that is about to connect man with God is the center point of one of the most important works in the history of painting. The intellectual environment of Michelangelo’s inner circle would have been replete with theories on the philosophical and cognitive abilities of man. The Renaissance period was key in reconsidering the status of man as an arbiter of divine will, and a turning point in the burgeoning fields of science and biology. As such, The Creation of Man can been seen as a meeting point of two worlds — the old world of divinity and the new world of scientific enquiry. While the artist betrays his awareness of the brain as the center of human thought, he retains divine relation as the motor of human individuality and of artistic inspiration. This small part of an immense and staggering fresco was completed between 1511 and 1512 by the artist’s horde of trained workshop painters. An irresistible surge of power that initiates the spark of knowledge and life makes the work captivating and almost impossible to turn away from. It is a testament to the paradigm shift of Renaissance thinking that is still the driving force behind the Western imagination, and a glorious articulation of all that is divine in man’s mortal place on earth.