Wednesday, August 19, 2015

1st Hour: Feast Your Eyes on This!

In class today we discussed how to use small but significant clues to sneak your way into a painting. Please peruse the painting below and respond to the questions that follow it.

Important notes:
  • Please do NOT Google this painting or use any other outside help; I only want to know what this class makes of the painting.  
  • Also, be sure to read others' responses before you post your own and include whether you agree or disagree with some of their interpretations.


1. Which part of the painting is your eye drawn to first?  Why do you think this is?

2. As you let your eyes wander all over the painting (up to down, left to right, corner to corner), which details of the painting do you have questions about?  In other words, if you could ask the artist one question about a specific detail in this painting, what would it be?  Post that question here.

3.  Let your mind attempt to draw together the details and make sense of the painting as a whole.  What do you think this painting is trying to convey to us?  Defend your thinking.

Please remember to proofread your answers carefully before posting.  Your response should reflect your professionalism.

61 comments:

  1. A) I believe I'm doing well at the choice of words I use while writing
    B) Reading the story and the poem then understanding it tripped me up a bit. I'd like to be able to understand better what the poem means.
    C) This unit will help because we will be reading a lot during this time so I will better understand how to read and really get what's going on.

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  2. One thing that I am doing well is using big precise words to describe my text more. Using figurative language is also added inside my text that broadens my writing more.
    One thing that I am struggling with that I would like to improve on is to make my writing longer. Not necessarily fluff but more details that I can use. One specific way that I can achieve my two goals is to give more effort and ask questions on how to make my writing better.

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  3. a. One thing that I'm doing well is elaborating on my reasoning.

    b. One thing that I'm struggling with is topic sentences.

    c. I hope this unit will allow me to read a variety of texts so I can improve all of my areas in reading

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  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  5. Painting Question Answers

    1) My eyes are drawn to the woman at the bottom middle of tee page, who looks like she is running towards the horse. I think my eyes are drawn to the woman because she covers a big proportion of the painting and since she looks rushed it makes me wonder what she is rushed for.

    2) What reason are the goats there for?

    3) I think the main idea of the painting is showing the view from a woman's house upon a village and sea or river. This shows how huge the world is by viewing it from different angles and maybe showing what life back then in that area looked like.

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    1. I notice the person in the water who is Icarus and is drowning and ended up in the water, and this is the place where Icarus is found and ended up.

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  6. 1) When first looking at the painting, my eyes are drawn to the women guiding the horse in the front. This is the biggest piece in the painting and is in the center which is why my eyes went to it first.

    2) This painting makes me wonder where it takes place and what time period it is in.

    3) It looks like it represents industrialization because in the background there is a big city and the ships seem to be going there. Closer up, the people are farming and the ships could represent the change from rural to city.

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  7. When first looking at the painting, I noticed the man holding the horse cage. His outfit is colorful and it sticks out when I first see the painting. Where are the ships going to? I notice that the painting has an immense amount of color, and are there names for the islands in the background? Where does this portrait take place? The painting portrays a city/town and islands around the oceans. A normal city with horses and ships for transportation.

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  8. 1. My eyes are first drawn to the man in orange because he is in the center of the image, and he is in bright colors relative to the rest of the painting.
    2. What location is this painting reflecting? I is very cool looking and almost unreal. There is icebergs, big hills, ships, and sheep. Interesting place.
    3. The idea of "work" is very big here. There are ships, most likely full of goods, all around the water. People are working with sheep and the man in orange has a plow for crops and other farm needs. I think overall the painting is conveying the life of a working man at that time period.

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    1. Now that I know the title "The Fall of Icarus", I can make some additions to my thinking. I now know that the legs flailing in the water below to Icarus. I also notice some other pieces of the painting. The man on the shore could very well be the father of Icarus, and the rocky "castle" in the middle of the water could be related to the labyrinth.

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  9. 1) The part of this painting that captures my attention at first glance is the man controlling the plow attached to the horse. He is the closest person portrayed in this painting and is wearing bright orange. I noticed there were two legs coming out of the ocean water in the right corner, I would like to know the reasoning of a person who has their feet sticking out of the water in this painting. I believe this shows how diverse the world is. As you can see, there are ice bergs on the left and what looks like a city on the right. These farmers are up top on what seems to be a hillside, terrace farming perhaps. Then theres the water and boats showing how they transport good across the world.

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    1. I now realize and understand the point of the legs flailing in the water, it is Icarus who flew too close to the sun and his wings melted resulting in him falling into the water.

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  10. 1. The man with the orange shirt really caught my eye, mainly because of the placing of this character, and the vibrant color of his shirt.
    2. This places geography is pretty cool, there are some mountains, a town by the ocean, rocky cliffs, and what looks like a forest on the right just before the mountains. So with that being said my question is, where is the setting of this painting?
    3. Well obviously this painting was meant to be dated back pretty far, so I think that this painting shows the life of a working community. See you have the man and the horse, who probably transports something somehow. Then you also have the sheep and the boats so I suspect this is a very agricultural place.

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    1. My new understanding of this painting now that I know the title, is that the artist left little hints of the myth we read. Icarus's legs, the wings on the ledge, and the labyrinth in the water. I feel like the artist didn't make Icarus's fall a big deal in the painting because it wasn't a big deal to the villagers.

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  11. 1) My eyes first ran across the man/woman in the orange shirt in the bottom center of the painting because it is the closest significant part of the picture and the colors differ substantially from the other colors in the painting.
    2)My question would probably be about the little rock structure near the center of the picture, slightly to the left, that has what appears to be a door on the side. It's a peculiar place to build anything, especially if it's going to be inhabited.
    3) I think the painting is trying to show what life was like back a couple hundred years or so because it seems like an ideal area for protection, slightly narrow port entrance and mountains surrounding you. It also shows how people lived by farming with old wooden tools by horse carry,livestock and transportation by ships. There's a little town or city off in the distance that looks like it would be ancient ruins you could go explore at this day and age. This painting portrays many ways of life back in the day so that's why I believe it is trying to show what life was like couple hundred years ago.

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    1. The legs that are in the bottom right flailing in the water are Icarus' after he fell from flying too high towards the sun. I think he made Icarus drown so close to land because he was that close to escape, but he made a foolish child's mistake and died so close to victory. The man in the white clothes is the one that found him and created a grave on the rock promontory.

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  12. 1. My eye was first drawn to the person in the middle of the page going down the hill wit their horse. I think I saw this first is because it is a pretty big portion of the picture and because he/she is wearing orange so it caught my eye

    2. Where is the setting of this painting? Due to the amount of mountains and trees and the ocean.

    3. I believe this painting is showing what life is like in the rural area during this time period in whatever city this is located in. What leads me to believe this is how the person with the plow and then the man down the way a bit herding his goats and finally the rush of all of the boats out of the port.

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    1. The painting "The Fall of Icarus" makes more sense now because it was Crete the city where Icarus escaped the labyrinth and his father told him not to fly to close to the sun cause the wax will melt and he will fall into the water. This is represented by the flailing legs in the ocean by the big boat. Also he escaped from the minotaur and the person in the orange has a sort of shape as a minotaur.

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  13. 1. I immediately noticed the ships deporting from the bay. It looks like the man lives in a very prosperous town because of the background and the ships also look very expensive, clean, and well kept.
    2. The thing that rose the most questions for me is the bottom right corner. I can't tell exactly what they are but they look like a pair of legs flailing in the water. I have no idea what that is.
    3. I agree with Jack that the painting is trying to tell the story of a farmer living on the outskirts of a very rich city. There is a farmer guiding a mule and a shepherd leading sheep. The shepherd looks extremely tired because agriculture is a very demanding work especially when located on the outskirts of a large city. And what are the legs?

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    1. Now I realize that those of the legs of Icarus after his wings melted off and he fell to his death. The man in the bottom right looks like he if pointing to Icarus in the water. Maybe he is trying to signal the ships to help him.

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  14. 1.) My eyes were drawn to the woman with the horse in the middle of the picture because she is in the front of the picture and her picture is bigger than the other ones. Another thing that I saw in the picture was when they were doing something to the field.
    2.) Is one side of the ocean poor and is the other side of the ocean rich? I would ask the artist this question because one side of the ocean, I see people working really hard and caring about their job and on the other side, I see big buildings and houses.
    3.) I think this painting is trying to tell us that one side of the ocean doesn't like the other side of the ocean and that they don't get along really well.

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    1. The legs that's floating on top of the ocean is Icarus because he's wings fell off and he fell in the water. The artist drew all of the pictures because they are part of the story and they need to be in his painting.

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  15. 1) I am first drawn to the women in the front of the picture, i believe this is so because it is a change of color and my eye just sees the differences first
    2)The question i would ask the artist is where is the setting of the painting because It looks kind of mystical but also could be somewhere like Italy.
    3)I believe that the painting is trying to show the evolution of how things got there from the old looking ship to the peaceful place that they live in today.

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    1. The city in the background may be Crete where Icarus escapes from. the legs drowning in the bottom right of the picture i believe is Icarus drowning after his wings melt

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  16. 1) I am first drawn to what seems to a shepherd right before the water hits the shore near the middle of the picture. I think it's a shepherd because he has a backpack and sheeps and he also seems to be holding a walking stick
    2) The question I would ask the artist is, what part of the world would this painting be seted in because it looks like a period in the older period in time but in a place that doesn't look familiar
    3) I think the painting is trying to show how other regions culture in the old times. the reason I think this is because the farmer in the front of the picture is plowing but by horse, which you don't see a lot now a days. But it also looks like peaceful place, like what you would probably see in a movie based on this time period.

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  17. 1) I am first drawn to what seems to a shepherd right before the water hits the shore near the middle of the picture. I think it's a shepherd because he has a backpack and sheeps and he also seems to be holding a walking stick
    2) The question I would ask the artist is, what part of the world would this painting be seted in because it looks like a period in the older period in time but in a place that doesn't look familiar
    3) I think the painting is trying to show how other regions culture in the old times. the reason I think this is because the farmer in the front of the picture is plowing but by horse, which you don't see a lot now a days. But it also looks like peaceful place, like what you would probably see in a movie based on this time period.

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  18. 1) I am first drawn to what seems to a shepherd right before the water hits the shore near the middle of the picture. I think it's a shepherd because he has a backpack and sheeps and he also seems to be holding a walking stick
    2) The question I would ask the artist is, what part of the world would this painting be seted in because it looks like a period in the older period in time but in a place that doesn't look familiar
    3) I think the painting is trying to show how other regions culture in the old times. the reason I think this is because the farmer in the front of the picture is plowing but by horse, which you don't see a lot now a days. But it also looks like peaceful place, like what you would probably see in a movie based on this time period.

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    1. The legs at the bottom of the page is Icarus. I think this because, at the bottom near the shore, it looks like the wings landed on the shore. The person at the bottom of the screen, is Daedalus

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  19. 1) My eyes are first drawn to the fact that there what looks like to be a mans legs sticking out of the water
    2) The question that i would like to ask the author is, what part of the world is this painting based from? I think that it looks somewhat like what I think a European country would look like, like Italy or Germany
    3) It looks like it represents industrialization because in the background there is a big city and the ships seem to be going there. Closer up, the people are farming and the ships could represent the change from rural to city.

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  20. 1.)The first thing my eyes are drawn to was the person in the middle of the page going down the steps, I think my eyes were drawn to this first because it is in the center of the page and is the main subject of the painting.
    2.)What is the man with the sheep doing, does he have a purpose or was the artist just trying to fill empty space?
    3.)I agree whit garrett I think the painting is trying to show us what life was like during that period of time and show us what the life of a working man was like.

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    1. I now understand that this is a painting is of when Icarus falls and the legs in the bottom are Icarus's legs, the farmer looks like a minotaur and the castle looks like crete. I am still not sure what the artist is trying to say.

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  22. 1. Along with nearly everyone that has responded before me, the first thing I noticed while looking at this painting was the person in the middle of the painting, and this is because of their bright shirt, which sits in a dull background.
    2. My question to the artist would be to ask what the setting is? I'm wondering this because it is rustic like Italy, but on the right there are mountains that almost look like icebergs.
    3. I believe that this painting resembles the working class, and like Matt, that it resembles a rural area. I think this because of the man herding, and the woman holding the plow, because these are jobs that definitely are not for the middle or upper class, and also these jobs, are usually based in a rural area.

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  23. 1. The first thing my eyes were drawn to was the man plowing the field. I was drawn to this because it is the biggest element in the painting.
    2. When I look around I see the ships sailing out with a red symbol in the flag. I also see a city in the distance and legs in the water. I wonder what city/country this painting takes place in?
    3. I think that this painting is about the ships leaving from Spain, Portugal, Ect to go explore the world and to find land and treasure.

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    1. I think what this painting means is that it wants to show what Icarus was escaping to and how close he was to freedom.

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  24. 1. The first thing I noticed while observing the painting is the expanse portrayed, and the cove looking area that stretches until the horizon.
    2. My question to the artist would be where and when is the painting set? From clues I can deduce that it is probably post-renaissance time period, probably in Italy, Greece, or another Mediterranean country.
    3. I believe this painting portrays the life of somebody living in this area, and how a lot of their life would be focused on agriculture and maritime endeavors.

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  25. 1. The first thing that my eyes went to when I looked at the picture was the man walking with the horse. I think my eyes went to that first because it was the biggest thing and was in the middle kind of.
    2.I would ask the artist where it took place and what that town was in the background. Also I would ask what time period it took place in.
    3. I think this picture is trying to show what a city by the ocean was like during this time period in the past.

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    1. I now understand that the legs in the water were Icarus and the whole painting is about the mythical story. He didn't make the legs very known because he might want the viewer to look at the painting more and try to understand the rest of the painting.

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  26. 1) I see the women with the red shirt in the front of the picture first. This is because the eyes are drawn to the brightest thing on the page, which in this case is the only orange thing in the painting.
    2) One question I have about this painting is why are there so many different biomes (Rocky Mountain, Ocean, Ice tundra in back) because it gives the person seeing the painting a hard time to guess where it is.
    3) This painting, in my perspective, shows the evolution of man. The agricultural era is in the front of the painting, there is what looks to be a half sunken castle (showing that time period as over,) the ships represent the colonization and movement of man, and there is a glorious city in the background showing modern day.

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    1. I now understand that Icarus has fallen into the sea, and the legs in the painting represent him drowning. The successes of man are shown in the main part of the painting, and the failure of Icarus shows trial and error.

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  27. The thing that first caught my eye was the large body of water in the background because it appears that there are ruins underneath the water and sticking out.
    My question for the artist of this painting is where the location of this painting is supposed to occur?
    Finally, I think that the painting is supposed to represent how the city itself has evolved as mankind has innovated more technology.

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    1. Now that we know the title of this painting we now know that the legs in the water are Icarus's legs. The one question I have now is what is going on in the background with all the water everywhere?

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  28. The thing that caught my eye most was the person walking because it was in the middle of the page where I first looked.
    My question about the painting is what is the man doing with those goats?
    I think that the painting shows the evolution of time and how everything has been changed throughout history

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    1. Knowing the title I now know what the legs in the water are. They are the legs of Icarus because he flew too close to the sun and fell into the water. And the city in the background is Crete where they escaped from.

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  29. 1. The thing that first caught me eye was that the horse was pulling something that's what I first looked at when I first looked at it.
    2. My question is where this took place what time era?
    3. The painting represents people and all thier different life styles and how they lived and worked in this time era for example the woman you looks to be gardening, or the man herding his sheep, and even the people on the boats in the background.

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  30. The first thing that caught my eye in the painting was the large ship leaving the land. Even after I scanned the page, I kept refocusing out of that same ship. It was significant in one way and I had to find out why. If I saw the artist, I would ask him what the time period was because the farmer's clothes suggests that it was not recent but I am completely unfamililiar with that style.
    This painting represents the advancements of technology and civilization. The large ship leaving the land represents the newer and more advanced life moving quickly and the farmer stayed behind. Because the farmer's body language suggests that he is either sad or uninterested, we can assume that he did not want a new or more advanced life like the majority of society.

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    1. After learning the title of the painting, I now realize that the legs in the bottom left corner belong to Icarus and his wings are to the left of him. Also, with the modern city in the background, it shows that when he falls they lose their modernity and restart on the bottom of the social chain.

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  31. The first thing that caught my eye was also the man controlling the plow on a very small field. He seems to be on top of a mountain over the sea shore, this also caused me to notice the large ship leaving land. But the most mysterious thing I saw in this painting was the foot sticking out of the water as if someone had just fell in. Everything else in the picture seems to be quite normal, there is a man plowing a small field, a shepherd herding his sheep, I also see a sailor or something by the sea shore. But I cant explain the random foot sticking out of the water. Concluding this strange fact into the painting, I'm not sure I can make out what is happening in this picture. Although I could say easily that this could resemble the time back in the older times when ships would transport goods and men would plow their own fields, It still does not support the fact the odd leg pocking out of the water.

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    1. Great! Now that I know what the titil of the painting, I now know that the man pushing the plow is Icarus's Father and the legs in the water is Icarus drowning. I now think that this painting us exclaiming that as Icarus died a foolish death, the world was still the same in showing that Icarus's death was very insignificant.

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  32. The first thing that I saw in the painting was the lower left corner with the man and the horse pulling the plow and I believe that it caught my attention because how close it was as the other things in the painting are at a farther distance and the man with the horse are the closest.
    A question I would like to ask the author is what happened to the man who is upside down in the ocean at the lower right of the painting?
    I believe the painting is trying to show us what life was like in that era.

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  33. The first thing that I saw in the painting was the lower left corner with the man and the horse pulling the plow and I believe that it caught my attention because how close it was as the other things in the painting are at a farther distance and the man with the horse are the closest.
    A question I would like to ask the author is what happened to the man who is upside down in the ocean at the lower right of the painting?
    I believe the painting is trying to show us what life was like in that era.

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  34. The first thing that I saw in the painting was the lower left corner with the man and the horse pulling the plow and I believe that it caught my attention because how close it was as the other things in the painting are at a farther distance and the man with the horse are the closest.
    A question I would like to ask the author is what happened to the man who is upside down in the ocean at the lower right of the painting?
    I believe the painting is trying to show us what life was like in that era.

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    1. Now that I know the title of the painting is " The Fall of Icarus" I know that the man in the ocean is Icarus and the statement about the painting is how Icarus's fall wasn't something big that would impact everyone. You can see feathers right above were Icarus fell and on the left side of the painting by the town you can see something in the air which I think is Icarus's father

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  35. 1) What first caught my eye in this picture is the ocean full of boats to the left because it tales up most of the painting.
    2) The one question I would ask is what is the point with the ships and the harbor towards the left of the painting?
    3) Well this painting was dated back a long time ago. This is showing what a farmers life was back then because he has the mule and the seeds for the farm

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    1. So the feet in the water is Icarus because his wings meted and he fell into the ocean in the story. So that is him drowning in the water and showing that he did not listen to his father. On the land next to the feet look like the wings that fell off because of the melted wax.

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  36. What caught my eye first in the painting was the horse walking down the path because when I first saw the painting I was curious to what that part of the painting was. If I had to ask the artist one question it would be where this was because it certainly doesn't look like it was in America. Also, the goats down by the water made me confused but interested at the same time. I think this painting is trying to tell us about a typical day in history. I also think its demonstrating how hard and complicated life was back then compared to today. Modern technology has changed the way we do everything compared to back then.

    (LATE)

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  37. After realizing what was really going on in this paining, I am very astonished. The author made you really think about and look at the paining and all of its details. No one is trying to save Icarus, so the legs didn't pop out of the picture when I first looked at it. The sun was shining, and made a huge factor to why Icarus was in the water. The sun burned the wax of the glider.

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  38. Icarus fell into the water and he is the person that is underwater, and even though they look like goats, his wings are to the left of him. He is so insignificant because Daederus got to Sicily safely, and no one thought about Icarus, so they went along like nothing happened. Also the sunken castle is the labyrinth, because to get to Sicily they had to fly over water.

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  39. You can see the wings lying on the right side of the small piece of land, I also see a man pointing to the pair of legs. The one thing that I still cannot see is since Icarus must have just landed, the one thing that I was still looking at is Deadalus should still be flying if this painting is based off of the story and poem. If you look towards the top left there is a little black spot that I think might be Deadalus still flying!!

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  40. The painting, "The Fall of Icarus" shows a complex piece of art with a lot of things going on. Now that I know the title, I see that the legs shown in the bottom right are Icarus' as he fell into the sea. His wings melted as he flew over the sea and he fell in and drowned. I think the artist is trying to show that Icarus' death wasn't a big deal and there are still many things happening around him that don't seem to care. He shows this by having many different things that take up most of the painting while making Icarus' legs a very small part in the bottom corner.

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  41. 1. My focus is drawn towards the woman in the center of the painting since she is wearing red which contrasts the rest of the painting's colors and is also the largest thing in the painting.
    2. Who is the woman?
    3. I think that this painting is trying to show us something that has a deeper meaning. It is possibly related to Icarus with the man drowning in the water and it looks like the time era would match up to support this.

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