The painting “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus” depicts a beautiful birds-eye view of the landscape. While demonstrating the working lifestyle of the seemingly middle-class individuals in focus, it also projects the vivid appearance of the area as a result of such efforts. Alone, the painting seems to be only an image of a typical day with minor concentration on the human struggling in the water. “Musée des Beaux Arts” enhances the interpretation of the painting as it reveals the details of aspects of it. The poem harps on the presence of human suffering and how it is often ignored by others who could possibly be in a position to help but choose not to. Without the assistance of the other resource it is difficult to interpret the poem or the painting but together; they present a clear message of how suffering is overlooked by those it does not directly affect. When originally viewing, my perception was drastically different than I believe the artwork was intended to be during creation. Seeing the visually appealing landscape and the persons performing manual labor seemed to represent a separation of class overall. While the painting projects what seems to be a civilized society, it also details the work necessary for this to occur. The two immediate characters seem fatigued from what appears to be the end of a long day’s work, yet continuing their tasks. Separate from the developed set of buildings, the blue-collar workers seem to yearn for the luxuries of those individuals but accept their current situation. It is not necessarily the fact that they are content with their lifestyle, but the fact that they acknowledge they are bound to it on the basis of necessity. Without reading the poem, the drowning body seems fairly insignificant as it only takes up a minute portion of the space. Deciphering the poem was simpler than the painting yet possibly misleading when interpreted by itself. Line two seems to hint that the “Old Masters” understood suffering based on their own hardships they endure. When Auden speaks of “someone else eating or opening a window or just walking dully along” in line four it almost correlates with the previous notion of a separation of social class across the water. “Musée des Beaux Arts” alone portrays this overall when describing the role of the lower-class individuals almost as if it is not escapable and carries on to following generations. If being viewed by itself, the poem seems to focus primarily on the sense of acceptance of lifestyles by the “Old Masters” until the final paragraph when speaking of Icarus. The primary pivotal point to my interpretation of the poem and painting was when the connection was created with the white legs in the water.
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A seemingly insignificant portion of the painting suddenly became the prominent aspect of both works. Not only did the reference provide a visual connection between the two, it also thoroughly transformed my perception on the two works as a whole. At first I was under the impression that Icarus was previously a member of this lower class yet died trying to escape it, that is why his peers refused to save him. I soon realized how inaccurate my interpretation of the hardships of the workers was as Auden was referring to the men witnessing suffering of others in the painting. Whether their prior experiences they understood so well are from witnessing or encountering such tragedies, these men are accustomed to such forms of incident that they pay no mind. Auden is unclear as to how the “Old Masters” have such extensive experience with the matter yet describes their reasons for a lack of assistance. Line seventeen demonstrates this reasoning when stating “it was not an important failure; the sun shone”, excusing the refusal to assist based on the lack of personal benefit. The fact that the sailors and ploughman were most likely made aware of the incident yet did not is what forced me to realize who actually endured the suffering Auden discussed at the beginning of the poem. It seems to imply that these men are so busy with their own lives that they only consider others for their own benefit, this is apparent when the sailors are awestruck by the occurrence yet abandon Icarus nonetheless. Following my intuitive understanding of the story through the connection provided, I also became able to understand the third paragraph
A seemingly insignificant portion of the painting suddenly became the prominent aspect of both works. Not only did the reference provide a visual connection between the two, it also thoroughly transformed my perception on the two works as a whole. At first I was under the impression that Icarus was previously a member of this lower class yet died trying to escape it, that is why his peers refused to save him. I soon realized how inaccurate my interpretation of the hardships of the workers was as Auden was referring to the men witnessing suffering of others in the painting. Whether their prior experiences they understood so well are from witnessing or encountering such tragedies, these men are accustomed to such forms of incident that they pay no mind. Auden is unclear as to how the “Old Masters” have such extensive experience with the matter yet describes their reasons for a lack of assistance. Line seventeen demonstrates this reasoning when stating “it was not an important failure; the sun shone”, excusing the refusal to assist based on the lack of personal benefit. The fact that the sailors and ploughman were most likely made aware of the incident yet did not is what forced me to realize who actually endured the suffering Auden discussed at the beginning of the poem. It seems to imply that these men are so busy with their own lives that they only consider others for their own benefit, this is apparent when the sailors are awestruck by the occurrence yet abandon Icarus nonetheless. Following my intuitive understanding of the story through the connection provided, I also became able to understand the third paragraph