Icarus by John Armstrong, oil on canvas

This is one of many semi-abstract works on the Greek mythological theme of Icarus which British Surrealist John Armstrong made between 1939 and 1968, spanning the Second World War to the Cold War.

Icarus, with his hand-made wings of feathers and wax, flew ambitiously high but too close to the sun. The story of Icarus represents both human progress and hubris. Armstrong used him to personify technological and political developments in the modern world and described Icarus as a symbol of 'the world flying too close to the sun of knowledge and getting destroyed in the process.' Shown as a cracked globe with feathered wings, his early Icarus paintings (see Tate Collection N05257) symbolised the tragedy of aerial warfare. In this post-war version, represented amid an escalating Cold War arms race, Armstrong paints the figure on a mound, tilting backwards as if gazing skywards beyond the picture's frame. Set against a yellow background, brighter than the blue-grey horizons of other Icarus works, the figure stands exposed and illuminated in dazzling light defined with iridescent white tints. Its wings – now more a tapestry of grey skeletal matter than feathers - become a cloak, shielding the figure from what might be the flash of a nuclear detonation. Armstrong painted over 30 variations on the Icarus theme. His final painting represented Icarus in the throes of death, as a broken figure: the globe, stem, and fragmented wings lie prostrate on a raised burial mound. Exhibited 1975, Royal Academy, John Armstrong 1893-1973, cat. 138. Purchased in 1976. Artist copyright: the artist's estate / Bridgeman Images. Image copyright: RAF Museum.