I visited The Valley of the Temples of Agrigento last summer, and it was the first time I found myself face to face with the impressive statue of the Fallen Icarus by Igor Mitoraj. I noticed that many tourists were unfamiliar with this outstanding work, and a few mistakenly considered it a classical statue that was unearthed on site. Therefore, willing to render justice to the sculpture and its author, I decided to write a visual analysis of this work to help you, the reader, appreciate it.
Igor Mitoraj, Fallen Icarus, 2011, bronze sculpture, Valley of the Temples (Valle dei Templi), Agrigento, Sicily. Photo by Gabriella Sentina.
The Fallen Icarus by Igor Mitoraj is a monumental bronze sculpture realised in 2011. Although it is a contemporary work, the statue appears deliberately damaged, missing both its left and right arm and the lower portion of its legs. Like many other works created by the Polish sculptor, Icarus is meant to be displayed in historical sites, and it is currently located in the Valley of the Temples, right in front of the suggestive temple of Concordia in Agrigento, Sicily.
Igor Mitoraj, Fallen Icarus, 2011, bronze sculpture, Valley of the Temples (Valle dei Templi), Agrigento, Sicily. Bridgeman Images.
The subject represented comes from the Greek mythology. Icarus was, in fact, the son of Daedalus, the most brilliant mythological inventor, famous for having designed the labyrinth where the mythical Minotaur was trapped. However, his most infamous invention was a pair of wings, which he crafted for himself and his son to escape the imprisonment of the labyrinth where King Minos confined him. Although Daedalus had warned his son not to get too close to the sun, the youth, caught by the newly found enthusiasm for soaring up in the deep blue sky, disregarded the warning. As he got too close to Apollo’s chariot, the heat melted the wax that bonded the feathers together. He inexorably began to descend through the soft white clouds to finally crash among the gentle waves of the Icarian Sea – named after him.
As Mitoraj’s Icarus lies broken on the sunburned soil of the Valley of the Temples, he does not seem out of place in the setting that hosts him. His body homes the memory of a mythical and fragmented past but also the memory of Mitoraj’s troubled past – born in a concentration camp in 1944 from a Polish girl and a French officer, whom he never met, he was subsequently brought up in a communist Poland. The artist expresses in the fragmentation of this work the remnants of a broken past, which is not only the ancient one but also the one upon which our contemporary society has laid its foundation. That is why Icarus is somehow a link between past and present both on a personal and collective level.
Front view of the Temple of Concordia (c. 440 - 430 BCE), Valley of the Temples (Valle dei Templi), Agrigento, Sicily. Photo by Gabriella Sentina.
Icarus appears in total symbiosis with the ancient landscape that it occupies, looking like it has been unearthed from the dirt of the old city of Akragas. The Verdigris patina that covers its bronze body creates a pleasant interval for the viewer’s eye, which would otherwise get lost among the different variations of ochre that the landscape offers. What captures is the contemplative expression of the youth, who is caught up with closed eyes and relaxed features, although, depending on the point of view, the face of the youth appears slightly sad as the lines of his lips and eyes tend to go down. Icarus is sculpted in the round, making a 360-degree view of the statue possible. Like the neighbouring temple of Concordia, the statue follows a horizontal line since the youth lies on his left side, drawing a sinuous line with his torso; this does not touch the soil because the weight of the sculpture falls on the broken left limbs and wing.
Side view of the Temple of Concordia (c. 440 - 430 BCE), Valley of the Temples (Valle dei Templi), Agrigento, Sicily. Photo by Gabriella Sentina.
As you can see, several elements make this statue perfectly suited to its ancient setting. However, there has been some controversy since some individuals think it steals people’s attention from the site’s true star—the temple of Concordia. In regard to this, the Council of the Park of the Valley of the Temples had discussed in 2023 the possibility of removing the statue from its actual place. While there have not been any recent updates about the statue's removal, there's still a chance that Icarus will soon abandon the site that has welcomed him for thirteen years.
Written by Gabriella Sentina
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