The myth of Icarus, as told by Ovid in his Metamorphosae, has become a symbol of the folly of bold egotism with its tale of an ordinary person daring to approach the sun. The ancient Greek myth tells of the master builder Daedalus who, together with his son Icarus, sought to escape King Minos, with whom he had fallen from favour. Equipped with wings they made from feathers and wax, father and son flew above the Aegean Sea. Icarus grew intoxicated with flight, and despite entreaties from his father, approached the sun too closely. Heat from the sun melted the wax, and Icarus fell to the sea. The bird feather left on the marble is the evidence of that event. The butterfly in the painting is the soul of Icarus. Just as a butterfly approaches fire too closely only to burn its wings, it mirrors the myth of doomed Icarus. Only a deserving person can possess wings. The wings of the artist are his creativity, and he has to gain the altitude that he deserves. (See also, Hic Saltus.)

Everything is ordinary in the world

Just as everything is unusual

Truth may have two meanings

Or even three.

The fruit, ripened and juicy,

Having surrendered to gravity’s law,

Reveals the image of brave Icarus

Who tied wings to himself

And jumped from a cliff toward the sun

Flying across the sky

Like a god.