Œdipe Traveler or Equality Behind Death

  • Œdipe Traveler or Equality Behind Death
Son of the King of Thebes, Oedipus is abandoned at his birth by his father. Ignoring his true origins, Oedipus kills him without knowing he was his father. Continuing his way to Thebes mourning, he meets the Sphinx who devours any human unable to solve his enigmas. Having replied to the famous enigma defining a man, Oedipus will continue his path towards his terrible destiny. 

Moreau renews the theme of his painting of 1864 (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art) by depersonalizing Oedipus, who is the traveler first. Moreau affirms a symbolist reading of the myth in which the vision nourishes an idea: the attributes of the victims stand for the states of humanity (the king's scepter, the warrior's arms, the poet's lyre).
Alleged from references to Greek antiquity, the myth becomes universal. 

Antony Roux Collection, circa 1888-1914 
Collection of the Vicomte François de Curel, 1914-1925 
Gift of Madame Widow François de Curel, 1925
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