Florence, Italy

 

Michelangelo, the Sculptor.

Academia Museum. Naturally the first gallery was packed with paintings from late medieval era, and then, David showed up. This guy was the reason everybody waited so long to get into the museum. I cringed at the idea of running towards David because, well, it felt so clichéd. But the awkward moment was gone in a second. As if David was a gigantic magnet and blood in my body was made of iron powders, I was dragged towards David.
The height of him was nearly 5m. He was extremely big and delicate more than I ever imagined. How Michelangelo managed to pull this off was even inconceivable considering the balance and the scale he had to deal with. I spent a long time staring at David and met ‘Michelangelo, the sculptor,’ the title Michelangelo cherished the most.

A hallway in front of David was dedicated to Michelangelo’s unfinished Slaves. These slaves were the actual reason why I came to this museum in spite of the notorious line and rumors that there’s nothing to see other than David.
Michelangelo thought figures already existed inside a piece of marble. The only thing he was to do in his studio was removing cover-ups and bringing those figures out.

The slaves were waking up twisting their bodies and revealing themselves through a coarse chunk of marble. Since their soul was trapped in the body and the body was (still) trapped in the stone, they were in double slavery. Thanks to the unfinished figures, meaning achieved an impeccable finishing.

Painter Michelangelo, sculptor Michelangelo, architect Michelangelo, poet Michelangelo.
If he were born five centuries later, he would have made films as well.