Detail of Oedipus and the Sphinx by Gustave Moreau Postcard

Oedipus and the Sphinx, an 1864 oil painting by Gustave Moreau, depicts the scene from Sophocles' tragedy Oedipus Rex where the young ruler must answer the Riddle of the Sphinx lest he be torn apart and eaten by the malevolent, mythological beast. The Sphinx, with the body of a lion, wings of an eagle and head of a woman, pounces upon her prey and stares into his eyes in anticipation. Moreau's classical figuration draws upon the arts of the archaic periods of pre-Classical Greece as well as the Classical, with great influence of the Mediaeval, Renaissance and 19th century neo-Classical masters. Gustave Moreau exhibited with great success in the late 19th century French Salon, and later became a professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris. His noteworthy students included the Modernist Fauve painters Henri Matisse, Albert Marquet, and Georges Rouault. Moreau’s work has much in common with classical 19th century French painters such as Ingres and Delacroix, but he is usually considered part of the French Symbolist movement for his literary, archaic classical style and religious and mythological subject matter.