The central image of Icarus' fall in what looks like a whirlpool was purposely supposed to look out of place. With better graphics skills, I would make it look like the whirlpool was pulling the rest of the canvas (not the elements in the painting) into the dark mass. This addition is also supposed to play with the idea of the dimensional aspects of the painting. I wanted the image to be in the shepherd's line of sight without seeming too out of place (or too otherworldly) in the context of the painting. In an early version, I tried blending this addition with the background color of the sea, but I lost the required distinction needed to make it look like Icarus was in the shepherd's line of sight.
The ploughman's centrality in the painting, on the upper level of three levels of land, and the bright red tunic sleeves he wears draws the viewers attention to his figure. Kavaler explains that his figure represents the unity of the village:
The image of the peasant dutifully plowing was one of the conventional signs of willful submission to a larger social structure, of the world in order, an image associated with the literary tradition of the Common Man. (Kavaler 57)
In the sixteenth century the representation of the farmer at his plow could be a comforting image that allayed thoughts of threatening ambition and social dislocation. The dutiful peasant, who never aspired to rise about his position, was a stock figure of the world in harmony; he appeared notably in the so-called Antwerp Songbook of 1544, which tells of 'the noble landsman by whom all must live . . . for he comes before all others through his loyal virtue.' (Kavaler 67)
I placed an image of Icarus' legs at the bottom end of the curve that the ploughman must follow (albeit impossibly) using the horse and and his huge plough. The ideal, of course, is that now he will see Icarus and react. The fisherman at the bottom right of the painting (with the implied lowest status) now sees Icarus right in front of him. He is holding a fishing rod over the area where I added Icarus. Finally (in the potentially most absurd addition), I added four images of Icarus' legs in front of the prosperous ship that is sailing away with the passage of the wind. The obvious implication is that the ship will see Icarus and save him. I have tried to emphasize the priority of focus in the painting with my additions: saving a human life.
The norm is the rule for the villagers in the painting, even though Bruegel might be questioning just how normal village life is by painting the ploughman using an impossibly large horse and plough to landscape such a small piece of land. The shepherd, similarly, is not doing his job very well by letting his sheep wander dangerously close to the sea as he stares off into the sky. The fisherman is strangely close to the water, as if his right arm is actually in the water rather than above it. And the ship, in a prosperous gust of wind, sails forward, seemingly without a crew. These disparities in the painting (in particular, their unity in the idyllic setting) suggest that industry and overall prosperity are functioning automatically. I could multiply the images of Icarus, and it would make no difference in Bruegel's questionably carefree scene.
Despite available federally funded and not for profit medical care options, every individual in the U.S. who doesn't have health insurance is potentially in Icarus' position as Breugel paints him: alone. The Obama administration estimates that the 40 million to 46 million Americans do not have health insurance (approximately one in six Americans). I'm still exploring what I can do with the painting to signify this, so the image above might change significantly.
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