Sistine Chapel

Garrett Lambur
Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel is one of the greatest things that I have ever set eyes upon in my lifetime. It is truly what can be called a masterpiece. I remember seeing it during my trip to Italy in Middle school but it did not have the same impact upon me then as it did when we visited it. I could have sat for hours just looking at it. There was so much going on and I could have never tired of looking at one part of it only to slowly move onto the next. The hand of man almost touching the hand of God is one of the greatest religious pieces of artwork I have ever seen. It seems in that single scene to capture the entire sense of Christianity. As a whole we almost always seem close to God but can never quite touch him. And within that sentiment is caught the frustrations of Christianity, being so close to touch God with so little effort being to actually touch him. There is just something magical about that one scene. It is enticing to me just thinking about it, I am not the strongest religious person but that scene brings out any belief that I have. Man is so close but still so far away. You find yourself willing him to reach out and touch God, to bask in the glory that surrounds God. Another aspect of it that drives the viewer crazy is the lackadaisical attitude that grips man as he just sits there, his face saying, “Well I’ll just sorta try, nothing more, I’m too good for this.” While on the other side Gods seems to be trying to reach down to touch man but can only go so far helped as he is by all the angels around him. As a person you just in awe staring at that one scene of the Sistine Chapel but then you begin to look around and you become even more amazed. That one scene could be on its own and be amazing but it is included in a huge ceiling painting that is utterly beautiful. There is so much to look when you look up at the Sistine chapel and I wish I could have spent more time than we did there, even though we did spend a lot of time looking at the Sistine chapel. I truly wish that I could have laid down with a group of people and just spent time discussing the different images that we saw before us, it would have given more meaning to an already wonderful piece of art.