![]() ![]() Ruth Yeazell further explains that phenomenon: However, with the boy’s tiny legs barely noticeable in the corner of the painting’s background, the painting speaks volumes about the importance and relevance of life and death. ![]() ![]() With a name like Landscape with the Fall of Icarus an onlooker would expect to see the fall of Icarus. Showing a scene that is only prevalent because of the paintings name, Bruegel immediately creates an interesting composition. While one might first notice the dark and foreboding colors, everyone’s eye moves on, eventually getting to the light and tranquil sky. By starting with dark, deep browns, and working toward the clear and bright blue airiness of the sea and sky, it could be argued that the color palette itself represents the arch of human nature. The incredibly unique use of color also emphasizes Bruegel’s, and more eminently Ovid’smessage. So, while the work may not be Bruegel’s, it is considered his idea, and hence all credit is given to him. Considered and suspected to be a copy of Bruegel’s painting, this version is not the real piece for two main reasons: the arguably poor quality of the painting compared to other pieces of Bruegel’s, and the fact that it is an oil painting on canvas, an exception in the works of Bruegel, who made all his other oil paintings on panel (De Vries 120). The painting as it is known today is most likely a close copy version of Bruegel’s original work. The painting was neither signed nor dated, and as De Vries explains, it appeared on the art market in 1912 and became part of the collection at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in the same year (122). THE PAINTING– LANDSCAPE WITH THE FALL OF ICARUSįinished in the 1560s, the influential painting, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus is over four hundred and fifty years old, yet its relevance has not wavered. However, Auden enriches his poem by synthesizing ecological nature, human nature, and inner nature, all of which not only help deepen understanding of Bruegel’s painting, but also create a more complex image of nature through the reader’s eyes, and, by combining Auden’s lyrical beauty with Bruegel’s fantastical imagery, the viewer is able to understand the mythology of Icarus and how human nature, perhaps emphasized through ecological nature, has told the tale of Icarus many times over. Auden and Bruegel, the painter of Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, which Auden based his poem on, express nature through the imagery of animals, a common theme, as animals are the most generic and common form of nature. Auden not only expands the understanding of the genre but also broadens the understanding of nature. The ekphrastic poem “Musée des Beaux Arts” by W.H. If ekphrasis is a literary description of a visual work of art, and ecocriticism uses literature to study nature and ecological concerns, how do the two mix? Auden’s poem is the quintessential ekphrastic poem, yet it has never been examined in terms of how it is both informed by and informs an eco-critical reading. UReCA: The NCHC Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity 2020 EditionĮkphrasis in Ecocriticism: A Deeper Understanding of Auden’s “Musée des Beaux Arts” ![]()
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