Michelangelo “Dusk” New Sacristy Medici in Florence Italy

Sculpture - Carrara marble (155 x 170 x 80 cm) 1524-1534

The “Dusk” is a bearded and manly man resting with his head slightly tilted as if it were starting to weigh on him at the end of the day that ends.

Michelangelo, Dusk The allegory of “Dusk” has been interpreted as the sadness that follows vain effort, a symbol of Michelangelo's pessimism.

According to Michelangelo, man's life is action or thought: action is inertia in defeat, thought is immobile, and absorbed emptiness.

Action is deadly fatigue; thought is resigned annihilation.

And the four allegorical figures are the repeated confirmation of this sad conclusion: Night is the sadness that takes refuge in unconsciousness, but the Dawn is the sadness that rises in sensuality and the Dusk, in fact, is the sadness that follows the vain effort.

The four moments of the day would therefore be nothing more than symbols of sin and melancholy.

Michelangelo, Dusk