Focus on Return of the Sun and discuss the Reception.
The art historian Jan Åke Pettersson interpreted the painting as optimistic, seeing it as an expression of renewed vitality after the fall of modern civilization. Jan-Erik Ebbestad Hansen, a Norwegian professor of the history of ideas, also interpreted the painting's sun as a symbol for life and a new beginning. Barbara Vetland on the other hand, in her art history master's thesis, interpreted the painting as pessimistic, citing the overall atmosphere, the colour scheme, the abyss in front of the women, and the fact that they are blind and thus cannot actually see the light. "Therefore it is warranted to ask which sun Nerdrum has depicted", Vetland wrote, "Is it the life-giving, or the destructive? For Icarus' hubris, to move too close to the sun was imposed with punishment and downfall."
history of ideas hubris master's Icarus