Icarus [also known as Upright Icarus] by John Armstrong, oil on canvas

This is one of over 30 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 featureless mount with skeletal wings and a hollowed-out globe - its large, gashed 'face' revealing an empty cage-like cavity, as a menacing, depleted entity, symbolising the threat of nuclear annihilation. His final painting represented Icarus in the throes of death, as a broken figure: globe, stem, and fragmented, disintegrating wings lying prostrate on a raised mount that resembles a burial mound. Purchased in 1978. Artist copyright: the artist's estate / Bridgeman Images. Image copyright: RAF Museum.