Unchanged by any teller — how the centuries since have seen Sphinx.
The gallery
Oedipus and the Sphinx
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, 1808–1827
Ingres' Louvre canvas fixes the Theban confrontation: Oedipus answers while the winged woman-lion waits on the rock — bones of failed travellers at their feet. Oil on canvas, Musée du Louvre, Paris.
Oedipus and the Sphinx
Gustave Moreau, 1864
Moreau's Salon triumph sets the Sphinx clawing at Oedipus' chest — the riddle as Symbolist duel, victory not yet assured. Oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
The Kiss of the Sphinx
Franz von Stuck, 1895
Stuck's Symbolist Sphinx pins a mortal in a lethal embrace — the Theban monster remade as femme fatale, kiss and kill in one gesture. Oil on canvas, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest.
Oedipus and the Sphinx of Thebes (Attic kylix)
Oedipus Painter, c. 470 BC
On this Attic red-figure kylix tondo, travelling Oedipus listens as the crowned Sphinx poses her riddle — the Theban monster in its earliest Greek vase form. Ceramic, Vatican Museums (Gregorian Etruscan Museum).
Oedipus and the Sphinx
Unknown (Attic), c. 470–460 BC
An Attic red-figure amphora shows Oedipus before the Theban Sphinx — the same riddle scene that later painters would enlarge into Romantic and Symbolist drama. Ceramic, Musée du Louvre, Paris.
In play
Riddle of the Sphinx
The Theban monster's riddle — four legs, two legs, three — remains the West's stock emblem of a question that kills if unanswered.
Oedipus and the Sphinx
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
Ingres' Louvre canvas fixed the modern image of the confrontation — the hero facing the winged woman-lion on the Theban road.