Picture 4 / 4
The Creation
Michelangelo, The Creation of Adam, c. 1511–12
- Painter
- Michelangelo
- Collection
- Sistine Chapel, Vatican
- Scripture
- Genesis 1:27
- Published
- 4 October 2026
- Image
- Wikimedia Commons, public domain ↗
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Two hands, and a gap between them. Adam lies on the earth, complete but slack; God arrives in a cloak full of figures and stretches out his finger. Michelangelo painted the moment just before the touch.
Genesis says that God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed life into his nostrils. Michelangelo replaces the breath by a gesture. The image has been copied so often that it is hard to see it fresh; it helps to notice how heavy Adam's arm still is, resting on his knee.
God's finger is stretched out, Adam's still hangs. Between them: a few centimetres of empty sky.
Under God's arm a young woman looks across at Adam. She has been read as Eve, not yet created, or as divine Wisdom.