Oedipus and the Sphynx
by INGRES, Jean-Auguste-Dominique, Oil on canvas, 189 x 144 cm
According to the classic myth, as rendered in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, Oedipus came to the Sphynx, who blocked the road to Thebes and challenged every traveler to answer a riddle or die. Oedipus mastered the riddle and the Sphynx jumped to her death in mortification.
Ingres first painted this composition in 1808, then changed it before presenting it at the Salon of 1827.