The Sistine Chapel is one of the most iconic buildings on earth — but there's a lot you probably don't know about it. In this tour-de-force talk, art historian Elizabeth Lev guides us across the famous building's ceiling and Michelangelo's vital depiction of traditional stories, showing how the painter reached beyond the religious iconography of the time to chart new artistic waters. Five hundred years after the artist painted it, says Lev, the Sistine Chapel forces us to look around as if it were a mirror and ask, "Who am I, and what role do I play in this great theater of life?" TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more. Find closed captions and translated subtitles in many languages at http://www.ted.com/translate Follow TED news on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tednews Like TED on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TED Subscribe to our channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/TEDtalksDirector

Comments

1. Is that Barbara Streisand?
2. all these appertains of MARY ARE PURE SATANISM. THIS IS THE CULT OF DEAD MARY. AND THE POPE IS A PRIEST OF LUCIFER.
3. NOTHING but Roman paganism, whatever, just call it what it is... Catholicism has as much to do with Christianity as devil worship. Don't forget to have mass on the "venerable day of the sun", meanwhile Jews and real Christians will follow God's commandment of observing the Sabbath. Oh and enjoy celebrating Christmas, the birthday of "Sol Invictus" the pagan, Roman sun god... smh
4. Adapting this great work to modern globalism is quite a stretch but works for her.
5. church prudes have ruined art for centuries
6. she forgot to mention figures are giving the fig to the pope and God is mooning the pope,
   Michaelangelo and Julius did not get along.
7. Wow she was awesome! I'd like to get all loopy on fine wines with this lady.
8. YEAH A VERY BLACK JACOB "ISRAEL" AND RACHAEL IS IN THER ! IVE SEEN IT !
9. A lot of credit goes to Pope Julius and Michelangelo for the completion of the Sistine Chapel
10. Despite her other qualities and eloquence, I'm frankly surprised at the ignorance she showed starting at 4:37 regarding the composition of the scenes in the panels. Doesn't she know that Michangelo painted the ceiling start IN REVERSE CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER.
    
    The crowded scene of the flood was the first panel painted and the separation of light and darkness was the last. So her premise is essentially wrong. Michelangelo started out Sistine Chapel ceiling using the same assumptions about space and form as was done with the panels on the church walls. As he progressed through the ceiling he learned his art and learned that he had to go with bigger, simpler compositions that could be seen from the floor. But he didn't know this until he sweated through the first third of the ceiling.
    
    You can also see this is the depiction of the prophets and ignudi in the ceiling. Going from left (earliest painting) to right (latter paintings) their forms become more and more expressive and explode out of the pseudo-architecture that Michelangelo created to "contain" them.
    
    So the fascinating thing about the Sistine Chapel is that we can literally see Michelangelo learning to become a painter of ceiling art over the course of the project.
11. liz lev is a goddess! absolutely amazing.
12. Wish it was sign posted better. We missed it !
13. Very good. But, I'm never thinking of me, when I look at art. I think ' a human brother/ sister created.
14. Absolute nonsense. She cannot talk adequately even at least about a few good american churches . Her talk is a blasphemy , at most . Christianity is not one bit the same in US and in Italy . Wait : is she really a christian ? All she craves is : audiences . So after many other topics , she thought '' what if i concoct a talk on Sistine Chapel "" ? BS
15. The always and forever untold story of the world, the silenced one, is the one of the genocide of 40 million indigenous people under the swords and germs of those who adventured to navigate new seas. There are not Frescos about that... Entire advanced civilizations where wiped out from the face of the earth in the name of Christ. I'm expecting to hear a Ted speach about that forbiden topic.
16. Thumbs up for CC and harambe
17. This woman knows nothing about the Sistine Chapel. I have heard and seen a lot of nonsense on the Sistine Chapel. This is the worst I have ever heard. GOOD GRIEF CHARLIE BROWN.
18. Passionate and skillful presentation on art's ability to inspire. ☆☆☆☆
19. WOW! Those turtles are great artists!
20. she is wrong :/