Art as a Form of Expression in Catholic Christianity (AQA GCSE Religious Studies B): Revision Note

The meaning of Michelangelo's Creation of Adam

• Creation is the act through which God brought the world into existence

• Christian beliefs about creation are contained in the book of Genesis in the Bible

• Art is one of the ways in which humans try to express religious ideas that can be hard to convey in words

• There have been many attempts to portray the story of creation from the book of Genesis

• One of the best-known examples is the Creation of Adam by the artist Michelangelo 

  • Michelangelo painted the image on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome in the 16th century (around 1511), along with other scenes from the book of Genesis

  • It depicts the moment when God gave life to Adam, the first man

Awaiting Image
Creation of Adam by Michelangelo, painted in the Sistine Chapel to show God’s creation of humanity

Attribution: 

Creation of Adam, Michelangelo (1475–1564), circa 1511, Public domain

The significance of Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam

• This painting is significant because it expresses many beliefs about the nature of God and God’s relationship with humanity

  • God created everything; nothing comes to life without God

  • God’s creation was “very good” (Genesis 1:31)

  • God is transcendent

  • God is eternal

  • All humans depend on God for life

  • Humans are made in the “image of God” (Genesis 1:27)

  • Humans have a unique place in creation 

• Images such as the Creation of Adam can help Catholics to understand more about God and may strengthen their faith

• However, there are limitations to depicting beliefs and spiritual matters in art and writing

• Images can be limited in what they depict and may not be entirely accurate, since they are one person’s interpretation of the event

• For example, here are three ways the Creation of Adam does not accurately depict Catholic beliefs

  • God is shown as an old man, which may not convey that he is eternal or transcendent

  • God is portrayed as almost the same size as Adam, which does not show the greatness of God compared to humans

  • The book of Genesis does not say that God touched Adam’s hand to bring him to life. It says in Genesis 2 that God “breathed” into Adam’s nostrils to bring him to life

Contrasting Christian artistic expressions of creation

• There are a variety of art pieces that also show beliefs about creation

• One example is a mosaic by the artist Hildreth Meière in the early 20th century

  • It is an image of the hand of God at work

  • It can be found in St Bartholomew’s Church in New York, USA

Awaiting Image

• Meière’s mosaic shows God’s work of creating the world in a very different way from Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam

  • It is a far more abstract portrayal

• The mosaic shows the power of God and implies that God is still at work creating life

• The hand of God is at the centre of Meière’s work, and God’s hand is much larger than the cloud

  • This is intended to show the power of God

• The circle represents the universe. Lines come out from the hand to the edge of the circle

  • This shows that God’s influence can be seen in everything in the universe

• There are some key contrasts between Meière’s mosaic of the hand of God and Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam

• In Meière’s mosaic, only God’s hand is shown to portray his infinite power

  • In the Creation of Adam, God is shown as an old man, which may make him seem less powerful

• Meière’s mosaic does not show any evidence of the creation of humans

  • In the Creation of Adam, God and Adam are reaching out towards each other

  • Therefore, Michelangelo’s work tells us much more about God’s relationship with humans

• The Creation of Adam focuses on the single act of God creating humanity. It may suggest that God created the world, then left humans alone afterwards

  • Meière’s mosaic portrays a greater sense of God continually creating everything

• Some Christians are uneasy with Meière’s use of a hand to represent God

  • They think this suggests that God is like humans, only in a much larger form

  • Representing God in human images is known as anthropomorphism

  • This is problematic because it does not accurately represent the Christian belief that God is a mystery and does not have a physical form