The Creation of Adam illustrates the Biblical story from the Book of Genesis in which God the Father breathes life into Adam, the first man. Chronologically the fourth in the series of panels depicting episodes from Genesis on the Sistine ceiling, it was among the last to be completed. It is arguably one of the most famous and most appreciated images in the world.

"The Hand of God" is perhaps the most enduring of Michelangelo's paintings. Almost five centuries later this image remains prevalent and is still being used in adverting and on posters and T-shirts. This is particularly true of the detail that shows the two hands as they reach towards each other, tantalizingly close, almost touching. The panel illustrates the moment when life is instilled in Abam by God. Michelangelo Buonarroti has placed the central focus upon the hands of Zgod and of Adam, not just by the placement of the figures, but also by the two outstretched arms. Adam, who is only half-sitting up against the mountainside, seems weak and lanquid, with his arm resting upon one bent knee as if it is too heavy for him to hold up without some support. The hand is limp, the fingers are drooping as if they are without energy, awaiting the vital spark of life.

An energetic, dynamic, flying God points his finger at Adam, who is struck with life. There is no visible spark, but Michelangelo did not need one to create this very strong image. Adam is shown as a powerful youth, who in the center of the composition receives the breath of life. The divine dynamism is depicted in God's blowing hair and beard. He is seated on a purple robe, surrounded by angels.This well-known fresco is part of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, showing several other episodes from Genesis as well.

The two great continental landmasses - the narrow isthmus joining them - cut by a Panama Canal: that would be a geographical way of seeing it. And it's that canal, the central crucial minimal gap between the finger of Adam and the finger of God, which so often focuses our attention. A finger's breadth separates the two fingertips, 3/4 inch of picture surface. The not-quite-meeting of hands in Michelangelo's Creation of Adam is the most famous detail in Western art.

The fourth scene in the chronological order of the narrative, the Creation of Adam painting, is depicted in the large field of the vault of the sixth bay, between the triangular spandrels. Michelangelo's organization of the Sistine ceiling frescos represents perhaps the most complex composition in Western art. The space contains an intricate pseudo structure of architecture that frames the sculpture-like forms. Out of the nine narrative scenes depicting events from Genesis, the most sublime scene is this "Creation of Adam," in which his new vision of humanity attains pictural form.

It is scarcely possible to put into words the impressions roused by this marvellous Religious painting; it is as though current passed from the painted scene to the beholder, who often feels that he is assisting at a hallowed world-shaking event. Michelangelo experiences the stages of creation within himself, retracing the way to the divine source by the double path of religion and of art. Now that, inspired by God, he has given form to Eve, elliptical and parabolic shapes begin to multiply; the number of orbits with two focal points increase. These were copied blindly during the following two centuries and became a decorative commonplace. The Creation of Adam is a section of Michelangelo's fresco Sistine Chapel ceiling painted circa 1511. It illustrates the Biblical story from the Book of Genesis in which God the Father breathes life into Adam, the first man. Chronologically the fourth in the series of panels depicting episodes from Genesis on the Sistine ceiling, it was among the last to be completed.

What of the place of the Renaissance in global culture? There were many marvellous works of art being created in the world of 1504, in places as various as Mexico and Benin. But only in modern times have such objects been defined, some might say appropriated, as "art". It is the modern world that rips relics from temples and calls them Art. The very idea of "art" – I told my Hay audience – begins in Renaissance Italy, and the contest between Leonardo and Michelangelo is central to its birth. You could say that Leonardo was the first person we know to have a deep and unmistakable artistic personality, and that Michelangelo learned from the older man, self-consciously presenting himself as a free and original art genius. In their competition, the demands of political and religious, communal and ritual image-making were eclipsed by a new cult of art for art's sake.