#theflightoficarus

Today's Art Appreciation is Gabriel Picart, The Flight of Icarus. @gabrielpicart #theflightoficarus #artappreciation #greekmythology #tooclosetothesun #artistonınstagram (at Toronto, Ontario) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTKhsDtAu3R/?utm_medium=tumblr

The sun cradles Icarus in its soft gaze. Did he want to soar and see the world around him go up in smoke? The earth looks different from above, and fire looks beautiful when you are in its center. Did he laugh when the wind slapped his face? Did he wish to graze in Apollo’s golden light and bathe in the rough sands of Poseidon? What did he achieve by the feat? Did youthful Apollo not gift him the great wings of wax? Icarus’ wondrous fall is often illustrated with poetry; splayed limbs, clipped wings. Skin hot to the touch. {Perhaps he wanted to fall.} The seductive kiss of agony rattles in his head as he slaps Poseidon’s rough seas. The wings drip like honey. But Icarus was mortal, and consequently his blood did not run as golden ichor. He ignored the fact that dreams can fall, and so could he. And above all, he ignored the voice shouting below, crying, come back, come back.