A neuroanatomist found an encoded message in Michelangelo's Creation of Adam, one of the world's most famous images.
This is fascinating...
This is fascinating...
In the early 1500s, Michelangelo was commissioned by Pope Julius II to paint the ceiling of the Vatican's Sistine Chapel.
His contemporary Georgio Vasari wrote, his goal was "to paint the human body in its best proportioned and most perfect forms and in the greatest variety."
His contemporary Georgio Vasari wrote, his goal was "to paint the human body in its best proportioned and most perfect forms and in the greatest variety."
For ~500 years after Michelangelo painted the Creation of Adam, the neuroanatomist Frank Meshberger writes, “a ‘main character’ in the fresco [had] not been recognized.”
To reveal this never-before-recognized main character, Dr. Meshberger first shares the following images:
To reveal this never-before-recognized main character, Dr. Meshberger first shares the following images:
“The important point,” Dr. Meshberger writes, “is not to identify minute neuroanatomic structures…but to see that the larger image encompassing God [is] a brain.”
Michelangelo was depicting that what Adam is receiving is not life (he’s clearly already alive), but intellect…
Michelangelo was depicting that what Adam is receiving is not life (he’s clearly already alive), but intellect…
Encoded in the Creation of Adam is Michelangelo’s philosophy of creativity.
Great art, he believed, “is not a matter of mere manual dexterity.” His skill wasn’t in his hands or with his tools, but in his ability to conceive “the best and highest” images for his brush to take up.
Great art, he believed, “is not a matter of mere manual dexterity.” His skill wasn’t in his hands or with his tools, but in his ability to conceive “the best and highest” images for his brush to take up.
Takeaway: Can't put it better than Anthony Hopkins' character did in Westworld...
“The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” — Michelangelo
Follow me @bpoppenheimer for more content like this!
Follow me @bpoppenheimer for more content like this!
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