Michelangelo doesn't have that much painting except for the ones in the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo always regarded himself first and foremost as a sculptor and a sculptor's vision is evident in all his paintings.

The Sistine Chapel is one Michelangelo most famous creation. Michelangelo's major painting is to be found in the ceiling and end wall over the altar in the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican, Rome. A few other paintings and quantity of drawings complete his surface two-dimensional work. Despite this apparently small oeuvre, Michelangelo's contribution to painting is recognized as a glory of the Renaissance.

A Florentine architect named the Sistine Chapel after its builder, Pope Sixtus IV, who had it designed, in 1473. It is a simple long rectangular chamber with a coved ceiling originally painted with gold stars on a blue ground. In 1506, the year in which Pope Julius II laid the foundation stone for the new church of St. Peter's, for a design by Donato Bramante, the energetic and indefatigable pope also conceived the idea of replacing the star design with a great painting. In 1508, Michelangelo was contracted to make a painting containing representations of the twelve apostles for the chapel.