Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

My Favorite Painting

Michelangelo's depiction of the Creation of Adam upon the Sistine Chapel has always been my favorite painting.  I like for many many reasons.  

  1. I selfishly enjoy the painting because of the name. 
  2. On a deeper level, this image captures the moment when we became human.  At this moment, God provided the spark to turn a naked, bipedal ape into a soulful, thoughtful human being.  In our past, a moment came that separated us from our animal ancestors.  When did that moment arrive?  Fifty thousand years ago we began drawing cave art with the great leap forward.  Sometime earlier, hominids buried their dead and possibly preparing them for an afterlife.  When did humanity become conscious of the universe, or God?  I find all of these questions in this masterpiece.
  3. Both Adam and God are represented in fine, pale Italian form.  The first humans, "Adam",  "Eve", and the other apes lived in equatorial Africa and lived with very dark skin.  Only after a small group made their way into Europe between 50-60,000 years ago did pale, white skin develop.  Renesssaince artists all drew Biblical characters including Jesus as Europeans, even though they would have shown a mix of Jewish and Arab traits.  
  4. Notice the "red thing" around God which shares a resemblance to the human uterus and the green robe which looks like an umbilical cord.  Recently, neuroscientists recognized many anatomical features of the brain within the image of God.  
  5. This image appears throughout pop culture.  Most vividly, ET touching the finger of the boy.  You can find more instances at the Wikipedia page. 
Enjoy the links and the wonderful painting.
Image from Wikipedia.