Some alchemical symbols

    

Fire             Water            Earth             Air 

 

Ostensibly made obsolete by the progress of modern science, as allegorical symbols I think these elements are as relevant now as they always have been. 

In the Aviator’s Dream painting the feathers contain the idea of air, but they are in the shape of the water element: they are there for Icarus, who transforms from an intrepid but foolish winged flyer into a drowning man.