The Illumined Heart (2024)

30 x 30 in. | Mixed media on canvas

The Illumined Heart is the radiant centerpiece of The New Book of Kells—an artistic journey through light, devotion, and spiritual transformation. Drawing inspiration from the exquisite beauty of medieval illuminated manuscript covers, Michael Green reinterprets this ancient tradition for a contemporary soul.

At the heart of the piece is a visionary dialogue between 9th-century Celtic art and the sacred aesthetics of the Near East and South Asia. Green explores the universal visual language shared across these traditions—symmetry, rhythmic patterning, and potent symbolism—revealing a cross-cultural resonance that transcends time and geography.

Through a meditative lens shaped by Indian and Tibetan spiritual art, The Illumined Heart reimagines Celtic iconography as a mandala-like experience. Here, creation itself becomes a contemplative practice—a movement toward healing, centering, and unity.

Sacred geometry, drawn from the Islamic tradition, weaves through the work in intricate latticework and golden harmonies—echoes of a cosmos governed by divine mathematics. Informed by Sufi wisdom, the heart becomes a mystical axis, the place where the self dissolves into the Divine Beloved—like a moth drawn into the light of a candle.

This inner turning, this invisible pivot from the outward to the inward, is a gesture of devotion and awakening. As Rumi writes, “A thousand half-loves must be forsaken to take one whole heart home.” In this turning, the heart becomes illumined—transfigured by love, and aligned with the soul’s deepest knowing.

Executed with digital pens and paintbrushes, the work is printed using archival pigment inks on cotton canvas and hand-finished with exquisite materials:

Natural earth and mineral pigments
Genuine gold leaf
Crystals and ethically sourced gemstones

Bridging the reverence of Celtic monks with the tools of modern artistry, The Illumined Heart invites viewers into a sacred space of beauty, stillness, and remembrance.

NEW BOOK OF KELLS ORIGINAL ART

NEW BOOK OF KELLS PRINTS

Michael Green
Visionary Artist of the Soul’s Journey

Michael Green is a visionary Aquarian artist whose work emerges from a lifelong devotion to the soul’s path. Deeply influenced by the teachings of the great Sufi mystics—especially the 13th-century poet Jelaluddin Rumi and the contemporary saint Bawa Muhaiyaddeen—Green creates art that is both spiritually resonant and visually luminous.

Working across media and genre, his creations blend sacred tradition with contemporary innovation. His groundbreaking book Zen and the Art of the Macintosh was the first to be entirely written, illustrated, and designed on a desktop computer, opening a new era in digital creativity. He is best known for the beloved bestsellers The Illuminated Rumi, The Illuminated Prayer, and The Illuminated Hafiz, created in collaboration with Coleman Barks and Robert Bly, which brought ecstatic poetry into dazzling visual form.

Green’s fine art moves seamlessly between ancient and future worlds. The New Book of Kells series reimagines medieval Celtic illumination with visionary depth. Unicornis revives the mythic forest as a symbol of inner transformation. The Afterculture—A New Golden Age envisions a world healed and whole.

With every piece, Green invites the viewer into a contemplative space—where the inner eye opens, and the heart remembers.