For almost five hundred years, people walked into the Sistine Chapel, looked up, and saw exactly what Michelangelo wanted them to see — or so they thought. The Creation of Adam shows God reaching out to touch Adam's finger, surrounded by angels and wrapped in a flowing red cloak. It's probably the most recognized painting on Earth. You've seen it on posters, phone cases, memes. Everyone knows this image. But nobody — not for five centuries — noticed what was hiding in plain sight.
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Riddles of the Past·1/4·1′
The place
Vatican & St. Peter's Basilica
The Hidden Brain in the Creation of Adam
A 500-year-old secret message hidden in the most famous painting on Earth
1508-1512 (discovered 1990)Vatican & St. Peter's Basilica
Moral of the Story
“True genius embeds layers of meaning that outlast centuries and reveal themselves only to those prepared to see them”
Characters
M
Michelangelo BuonarrotiF
Frank MeshbergerI
Ian SukR
Rafael TamargoSource
Meshberger, Frank. "An Interpretation of Michelangelo's Creation of Adam Based on Neuroanatomy," JAMA 264:14, 1990; Suk and Tamargo, Neurosurgery, 2010