A Visual Pause

My first impression of the Sistine Chapel was probably that it was way bigger than I expected it to be, and it did not fail to astound me despite my previous familiarity with the frescoes. I was particularly struck by the ceiling panels depicting the story of Creation. I had previously encountered an interpretation of the Creation of Adam that reflected upon the famous depiction of man and God reaching out to touch one another. It pointed out that Adam is raising his hand half-heartedly, without conviction, almost lazily, while God is so adamant to make contact that he is throwing his entire body into the gesture, stretching out almost to the point of losing his balance in his company of angels; a representation which captures the relationship of human beings to God beautifully – we do not need to go out of our way to find Him, we merely need to look up and accept his readily offered mercy and love. When viewing the entire ceiling, I was also struck by the contrast between the depiction of God in this panel and those preceding it chronologically. In the first three panels depicting the Creation of the world, God flies around with almost comical drama and flourish. As ridiculous as it seems, staring up at these masterpieces in the chapel, I felt as though God would be accompanying each of His creations with sound effects like “Poof!” and zipping back and forth with an audible “Whoosh!” – but that changes entirely when it comes to the Creation of Adam. God is no longer calling things into existence with abandon, instead, in a moment of stillness and sobriety, he pauses to engage this being he has created in His image and likeness. It was a very powerful representation of the relationship between Creator and creation which I had never noticed before.