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. Armstrong’s post-war variations on the theme, made in response to the escalating Cold War arms race, suggested the threat of nuclear annihilation. In this 1959 painting, Icarus is represented seemingly in-tact, with feathered wings and a faceted globe resembling a flower head. Standing upon a fertile grassy landscape, the figure, however, leans to one side, as if overpowered by flashes of white clouds in yellow light. Brighter than the blue-grey backgrounds of other Icarus paintings, this horizon may be interpreted as gamma rays emitted in a blast of radiation. Possibly, the painting charts the beginning of Icarus's final chapter, descending into further decline. Armstrong’s paintings from the 1960s positioned Icarus atop featureless mounts, with skeletal wings and a hollowed-out globe – its large, gashed 'face' now revealing an empty cage-like cavity, as a menacing, depleted entity. His final painting represented Icarus in the throes of death, as a broken figure: globe, stem, and fragmented, disintegrating wings lying prostrate on a burial mound. Purchased in 1977. Artist copyright: the artist's estate / Bridgeman Images. Image copyright: RAF Museum.