Landscape With The Fall Of Icarus Essay

The way an artist chooses to use their individual techniques and styles affect how they tell a story. This allows one event to be depicted in a multitude of ways; the painting and poem of The Landscape With The Fall Of Icarus demonstrates this. Each author portrays identical themes by drawing attention away from Icarus. Despite using similar themes, the artists construct their pieces to evoke different moods within the audience.

Both artisans put great emphasis on the reality that no one in the painting or poem seemed to care that Icarus was drowning, but each did it in their own, very different ways. Bruegel depicted this in his painting by making the majority of the artwork vibrant and by creating a busy atmosphere that encompassed the piece. However, if the viewer continued to observe the piece of work, they would realize that it becomes darker, less busy and that they begin to receive an uneasy feeling. As the viewer continues to examine it, they will notice Icarus drowning. In order to accentuate the overall theme of the painting, the artist purposefully made sure that all of the people in the painting were turned away from him, as if he was not important. Bruegel also …show more content…
Bruegel manipulates color and space to compel the audience to look over Icarus drowning. The busyness that he represents through out his painting forces you inspect every detail. As you start to see colors changing from light to dark, you finally notice Icarus drowning. Bruegel makes you search for the true meaning of the painting in hopes that Icarus’s misfortune will hit you harder than if he had depicted Icarus’s fall more blatantly. This leaves the viewer with the feeling that Icarus was insignificant to the society he was living in and adds to the guilt Bruegel instated within the viewer. This is done by ultimately spawning a falsely idealistic depiction of a “spring day”, as said by W.C