One of Matisse’s most recognizable images from Jazz, Icarus recalls the Greek myth in which a young man wears wings made of wax and feathers in his escape from imprisonment. Relishing his freedom, he flies too close to the sun, causing the wax on his wings to melt and his fatal fall into the sea. Matisse’s Icarus also references the daring trapeze act in which a seated performer catches their partner using their legs. Icarus, with his bright red heart, becomes a trapeze artist, the stars surrounding him on his flight transformed into the spotlights on the stage.