A Sister Instead of a Brother: Icarus's Sister, Illusion

Icarus is a figure from Greek mythology who, after being imprisoned in a labyrinth, escaped using wings built by his father. Ignoring his father's warning, though, he flew too close to the sun, and the wax holding his wings together melted, sending him plunging into the sea. For the 19th-century Romantic artists of Rodin's era, Icarus became a defining symbol of the spirit that dares the impossible in pursuit of freedom.

Rodin had originally planned to include a sculpture of Icarus in The Gates of Hell and even completed sketches toward it. In the end, though, he left it out of that work and made it into a standalone piece instead. Curiously, Rodin chose to sculpt the figure not as the male Icarus but as a woman. He titled the piece Illusion, giving it the subtitle Icarus's Sister.