Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition
In January 2026, I saw Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition created by SEE Global Entertainment during its stop at Warwick Mall in Warwick, RI, which was advertised as Providence. The exhibit contained life-sized reproductions of the frescoes found on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican sporadically and reluctantly painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1541 and restored between 1984 and 1994. The tour came with an audio guide app describing the artwork and sharing fun facts about the UNESCO world heritage site.
The frescoes in the Sistine Chapel can be divided into a few different categories: stories from Genesis, prophets and sybils, ancestors of Christ, corners, and The Last Judgement. Some of Michelangelo’s choices in what stories and people to portray seem strange to modern visitors. For example, Michelangelo chose nine stories from Genesis, focusing on creation and the story of Noah. Modern people are more likely to skip the story where Noah makes wine and becomes drunk on his new inventions as his son, Ham, shames him. However, Michelangelo’s time, this was considered a prefiguration, or a story pointing to the shaming of Jesus Christ on the cross. The clothing of the characters, or lack of clothing, are also different than modern convention. God the Father wears a pink tunic, while his many angelic followers are naked.
Michelangelo also blends what we now consider Christian and pagan belief. The seven prophets are men, and their stories are found in the Bible. The five sibyls are women, and their stories came from classical literature, including Greco-Roman religion. The sibyls were often depicted with masculine bodies, including large biceps and broad shoulders, as this androgynous appearance was considered beautiful at the time. (I wrote more about the aesthetic in this essay.) To me, the most baffling frescoes were from the Ancestors of Christ series. These depicted families, most often a mother and a young child, but it is not always clear who each person is. Even experts are confused why powerful kings like Zerubbabel and Uzziah are shown as babies rather than adults at the height of their careers.
Ticket prices vary but are around $30 per person, somewhat high for the experience. I appreciated the high resolution artwork and accompanying signage. The exhibit never became too crowded and was set up in a convenient location with plenty of free parking. However, the paintings were put up haphazardly, not aligning to the order that they might have been viewed in the chapel. This made it difficult to understand how sets of pictures may have fit together even with the diagrams on the signage. Additionally, the audio guide app had difficulty scanning the QR codes appearing on the signs, requiring the associated soundbite to be located manually. The blackout curtains in a few locations needed adjustment, as I could view the Prophet Zechariah and Victoria’s Secret at the same time. Overall, this was an enjoyable exhibit and a great way to turn empty stores in malls into an accessible cultural experience.
