What is the first scene on the Sistine Chapel ceiling?

The first scene in the Sistine Chapel ceiling's central Genesis sequence is Separation of Light from Darkness.

It represents the First Day of Creation, when God creates light and divides it from darkness, following the opening chapter of Genesis. Michelangelo painted God at the centre with outstretched arms, using foreshortening and the ceiling's sotto in su viewpoint to make the figure appear to rise above the viewer.

The scene is the first when the nine central panels are read from the altar toward the entrance. It begins a sequence that continues with the Creation of the Sun, Moon and Plants, the Separation of Land and Water, the Creation of Adam, and later scenes involving Eve, the Fall, and Noah.

A common mix-up concerns the order in which Michelangelo painted the panels. He began at the west end with scenes involving Noah and worked toward the altar, so Separation of Light from Darkness was painted late, not first. “First” here means first in the finished biblical narrative sequence, not first chronologically in Michelangelo's work process.