The fall of a man

The Fall

This painting has been made for my AS exam (an english exam for people who want to study in England). Being a fan of mythology, I have chosen to represent Icarus in my own way. I used acrylic, watercolor, inks, collage and also aluminum foil. My first idea was to represent the sun judging Icarus for his faults and punishing him. However after few thoughts I realized that Icarus looks like he is falling but at the same time going to heaven because of the earth at the bottom of the painting.

The Sun

As I said previously, the sun represents the judgement. As one of the main characters in the painting, he is the one who decides. However he also represents four parts of myself : my french side on the right, my english side for my school on the left, my greek side for my fascination in mythology up and my spanish side down which is my father's mother tongue. I worked for several weeks on the sun to find the perfect one which will express power, severity and judgement. I surrounded the sun by a collage of a map of Ancient Greece to show that the sun is almost destroying Icarus' world.

Icarus

On the other hand, Icarus is the character which is in the centre of the painting. He is the other main character of The Fall.

To make his hands I took the best example I could think of : The Creation of Adam by Michel Angelo.

Both hands are used to represent the two sides of Icarus; the left hand is his human part, his immortality, while the right hand represents his desire to be a God- which is why he is reaching out to touch the sun.

His wings are made out of a collage of maps of Ancient Greece and a poem. The poem is really beautiful- if you want to read it you can find it there :

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/landscape-with-the-fall-of-icarus/

This poem is representing Icarus's future when he is drowning in the sea, but it suggests the feathers of the wings.

Like the poem, his clothes also represent his future by the skull images on it. The earth has a double meaning : first, as I said before it represents the fact that Icarus is going to heaven but it also represents the sea.

I hope you would like my painting, if you want you can comment on this article. Tell me what you liked, what you disliked ! I am also sorry for my grammar mistakes, it has been only two years that I study &english !

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Edited by Faye Bardi