Landscape With The Fall Of Icarus Essay

Desperate to flee the island after being locked up in a high tower, Daedalus, a skillful inventor, creates a pair of wings out of feathers and wax for himself and his son, Icarus, telling him not to fly to close to the sun as his creation would melt. Icarus disregards what his father says, leading to his fall. Pieter Brueghel, a 16th century Flemish painter, analyzes his fall to unravel the truth of suffering through his painting Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, where Icarus is not the main subject. Additionally, “Musee Des Beaux Arts” written by a 20th century poet named W.H. Auden interprets the importance of miracles and suffering in society. Although Breugel explores suffering with the positioning of characters through his painting and Auden employs it through imagery throughout his poem,both works illustrate a common theme of the insignificance of an individual’s suffering.

He places Icarus off to the side, only recognizable by his tiny, white legs flailing in the water, whereas a ploughman with his horse is placed in the center. The ploughman attracts more attention due to his central position and size relative to Icarus, demonstrating the insignificance of his suffering.The most noteworthy aspect of the painting is how characters look away from him, further supporting the irrelevance of his suffering to others as they have other tasks to perform. Breughel’s contrasting use of colors also contribute to the idea; The ploughman is seen wearing bright red and the ocean in the background is painted using bright colors. On the other hand, Icarus is surrounded with dark colors, making him less noticeable than the others. For these reasons, Brueghel's use of perspective and character size effectively demonstrates the insignificance of Icarus’ suffering to the ones around