The Effect of Unfolding Scientific Discoveries on Visual Images of the Beginning of the Universe

Abstract

Explanations of ‘The Beginning’ or ‘Creation’ have varied from primitive accounts to complex theological, philosophical and scientific arguments. Myths and ideas providing answers to the great questions of how the universe was created, and where we all came from, have circulated in the near east and the Mediterranean since ancient times, from early legends to ancient, medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, to modern scientific theory. Such ideas have also been expressed in visual images ranging from the great Creation cycles in St Mark's Venice and Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling, to the works of William Blake, Brancusi's 'egg' or technical and scientific diagrams, such as the famous NASA image ‘The Big Bang and the Expansion of the Universe’ of 2012. Visual representations of the Beginning have changed over time and may be either in line with or contrary to contemporary scientific thought.