Falling Icarus 1982

Curator: Here we have Rudolf Bér's "Falling Icarus," rendered in oil and acrylic in 1982. What are your immediate impressions? Editor: Utter chaos! The human figures seem to be in freefall, almost tumbling out of the frame. There’s this sense of uncontrolled movement, a total loss of control… or is it acceptance? Curator: Bér clearly engages with history painting here, updating a very recognizable myth with the Neo-Expressionist style of the 1980s. Think about the traditional versions—classical poise even in the fall. What does this treatment say? Editor: It hits harder. It’s raw, isn't it? Less about a graceful descent and more about the messy, brutal reality of failure. It speaks of our vulnerabilities and a fear of consequence for reaching too high. Curator: Neo-Expressionism embraced this return to figuration and emotion after conceptualism, questioning power structures and high art itself. Is this Icarus a fallen hero or a cautionary figure in an era of shifting ideologies? Editor: Fallen hero, definitely. There's something so painfully human about it, though. We can all relate to the feeling of failing. What the classic tells you in an elitist way this artwork screams in your face using distorted figures, color stains, and very gestural paint strokes. Curator: Indeed. Notice how Bér uses color. The pallid tones and rough brushstrokes create a sense of decay and the breakdown, physical and perhaps societal, emphasizing the destruction instead of romanticizing the heroic element. Editor: For sure. It is so raw and so expressive; I can almost hear Icarus falling in this painting, struggling against the forces pulling him down. But who is at the bottom there looking upwards to Icarus with that facial expression? Icarus's father? Curator: Well, perhaps that is a question that lingers with each of us. Bér is challenging us to reflect not only on the hubris of Icarus, but what has been said about that over time, its role as part of visual culture. Editor: Exactly. Thank you for opening my eyes even further to "Falling Icarus", Bér gives an intense, thought-provoking depiction that truly captures the core emotion in an unusual style that gives you a chill running down your spine!