Before Wallpaper

Michelangelo’s painting of the Sistine Chapel has always been familiar to me, but I was not prepared for what I saw when I stepped inside. The building itself may not be extremely large, but every inch is painted in scenes depicting all aspects of the Bible. The painting uses a technique known as forced perspective, which makes the statues and biblical figures on the ceiling look more three dimensional than any 3D movie I have ever seen. In fact, the arches painted on the ceiling were so believable that it was impossible to distinguish actual architecture from that which was painted. What was most moving, however, was the scene painted directly in the center of the ceiling, depicting God reaching out to Adam. God stretches out his hand to Adam, but Adam’s hand is not fully extended. This detail made much more sense when a member of our group pointed out that God’s figure is encircled by a cloud resembling the shape of a human brain. It seems that Adam’s lack of motivation is actually a lack of knowledge, and God’s gesture is a sign of transferring that knowledge to mankind.  Michelangelo’s scenes are full of exquisite beauty and detail, along with carefully planned action. It is incredible that one man could create such beauty from a space that would otherwise be so ordinary. All I could think of when viewing the painting was a symphony by Mozart or Beethoven, and how these men could accomplish works of art beyond our imagination, or even comprehension. Anxious tourists walked in and out of the Sistine Chapel with the same attention span as someone who quickly changes the radio channel when Classical music is playing. What I realized today is that often it’s not because we are “spoiled Americans,” but because the work is simply overwhelming. The Sistine Chapel’s detail is so vast that I simply didn’t know where to begin. It was not until someone pointed out that the scenes progress in a particular order that I was able to begin understanding what I was seeing. Seeing into the mind of a genius is not as easy as it seems.