Gustave Moreau. Letter to Eugène Fromentin. October 18, 1862 [published in Ref. Wright 1995, pp. 1266–67], states that he has been working seriously on this painting for fifteen days.
Edmond About. Salon de 1864. Paris, 1864, pp. 137–42, complains of a certain servility in the execution and of the wooden quality of the figure of Oedipus; appreciates Moreau's departure from tradition in unseating the sphinx from her plinth, but remarks that she is as stiff and expressionless as the seated Egyptian type; comments that Moreau has chosen for the face of the Sphinx the features of the doll Huret; mentions that the landscape was inspired by Moreau's trip to Italy and questions the necessity of the Etruscan vase in the foreground.
F. Aubert. Le Pays (1864) [see Ref. Sterling and Salinger 1967], likens it to the paintings of the fifteenth century.
Louis Auvray. Exposition des beaux-arts: Salon de 1864. Paris, 1864, pp. 54–57 [see Ref. Sterling and Salinger 1967].
"Old Noll". "Des tendances de l'art contemporain, à l'occasion de l'Exposition des beaux-arts de 1864." Annales de la charité (Revue d'économie chrétienne) 6 (May 1864), pp. 883–902 [reprinted in Ref. Lacambre 1997], mentions that the Greek sphinx, half-woman and half-vulture, is represented here, rather than the Egyptian type, who is shown seated; discusses it in relation to Ingres's painting of the same subject, but notes that whereas Ingres presented a modern Oedipus, Moreau has better understood the classical Oedipus.
Ph[ilippe]. Burty. "La Quinzaine artistique." La Presse (May 9, 1864), p. 3, states that it was acquired on the previous day by Prince Napoléon.
Ph[ilippe]. Burty. "Beaux-Arts." La Presse (May 5, 1864), p. 2.
A. Cantaloube. "Salon de 1864: La peinture." Nouvelle revue de Paris 3 (June 15, 1864), pp. 602–7, discusses the reaction of artists; remarks that the sphinx has the head and the breast of a virgin; notes that Oedipus expresses agitation of thought and the life of the spirit; comments that details at the bottom of the canvas such as the butterfly and urn serve not only to strengthen this part of the composition, but also serve as emblems to show the contrasts of life.
Cham. "Une promenade au salon." Le Charivari (1864) [reprinted in Ref. Léger 1920, p. 54], publishes a caricature inspired by it.
Jules Claretie. "Salon de 1864: Le salon des refusés." L'Artiste 2 (June 30, 1864), p. 4, discusses the reaction of both the public and artists to it at the Salon; comments that it is drawn like a Mantegna and is as poetic as a Leonardo da Vinci.
Charles Clément. "Exposition de 1864 (Troisiéme article)." Journal des débats politiques et littéraires (May 12, 1864), pp. 1–2, calls the body of the sphinx the best part of the composition; notes that the body of Oedipus is elegant although a bit thin; mentions that the elbow and the knee are badly drawn and that the foot looks deformed; however, concludes that in general the effect of the painting is good and that it does honor to its painter.
Hector de Callias. "Salon de 1864: Les quarante médailles." L'Artiste 1 (May 15, 1864), p. 219, comments that it is more of a study than a painting and notes that it recalls Italian masters such as Raphael.
Théophile Gautier. Le moniteur universel (May 27, 1864), p. 766 [see Ref. Sterling and Salinger 1967].
Léon Lagrange. "Le Salon de 1864." Gazette des beaux-arts 16 (1864), pp. 506–8, ill. opp. p. 506.
Engraving by Gillot Sc. L'Artiste, 8th ser., 1 (June 10, 1864), pp. 24–25.
Adrien Paul. "Salon de 1864. La Peinture (5e article)." Le Siècle (June 8, 1864), p. 1.
Paul de Saint-Victor. "Salon de 1864 (Premier article)." La Presse (May 6–7, 1864 [one issue for both days]), p. 2.
C. de Sault. "Salon de 1864. (2e article). Oedipe et le sphinx." Le Temps (May 12, 1864), pp. 1–2.
Théophile Gautier. Le moniteur universel (July 9, 1865) [reprinted in Ref. Girard 1994], comments that Moreau gives a new interpretation of the Oedipus myth, likens the sphinx to a modern courtesan and Oedipus to a type of Greek Hamlet who is faced with the problems of life.
Maxime du Camp. Les beaux-arts à l'exposition universelle et aux salons de 1863, 1864, 1865, 1866 & 1867. Paris, 1867, pp. 109–19, praises both the content and the execution, and finds Moreau's interpretation more spiritual than that of Ingres.
Paul Mantz. "Les beaux-arts à l'exposition universelle." Gazette des beaux-arts (October 1867), p. 330.
Ernest Chesneau. Les nations rivales dans l'art. Paris, 1868, pp. 181–99, 203, 206–7, calls it an ideal work because each element of the composition has been thought out and perfectly realized; remarks that it is one of the best pictures in the Salon.
Théophile Gautier. Journal officiel 53 (June 20, 1869) [see Ref. Girard 1997].
T. Thoré. Salons de W. Bürger 1861 à 1868. 2, Paris, 1870, pp. 14–19, praises the originality of the interpretation but condemns the literary quality, the technique, and the style.
Claude Phillips. "Gustave Moreau." Magazine of Art 8 (1885), p. 230, comments that the sphinx is too small and resembles a wild cat rather than a lioness, but that she has the head of a classical beauty; remarks that the figure of Oedipus suggests not the study of Mantegna or Pollaiuolo but the influence of the Greek canon; mentions that there is a noticeable mannerism in the rendering of the figures that detracts from the "pictorial qualities of the design".
Jules Breton. Nos peintres du siècle. Paris, [189?], p. 178, comments that the nervous and subtle execution of parts of the landscape recalls Fromentin.
[Jules] Castagnary. Salons (1857–1870). Paris, 1892, vol. 1, pp. 196–202, condemns its literary quality and criticizes the details, calling it a pastiche of the Italian Renaissance.
G. W. The Pageant. London, 1897, pp. 5, 13–14, ill.
Odilon Redon. Letter to Mme de Holstein. January 29, 1900 [reprinted in Ref. Redon 1923, p. 38], recalls the deep impression this painting made on him at the Salon of 1864.
Ary Renan. Gustave Moreau, 1826–1898. Paris, 1900, pp. 27, 45, 49–52, 131, 133, reproduces an engraving after it.
Édouard Schuré. "L'Oedipe de Gustave Moreau." La Revue de Paris no. 23 (1900), pp. 617–18, remarks that it has the appearance of an antique bas-relief.
Abbé Loisel. L'inspiration chrétienne du peintre Gustave Moreau. Paris, 1912, p. 28, interprets the theme as man opposed to nature.
Mario Praz. The Romantic Agony. London, 1933, pp. 295–96, remarks that it is the first painting in Moreau's Sphinx series dealing with "the theme of satanic beauty in primitive mythology".
Joseph C. Sloane. French Painting Between the Past and the Present: Artists, Critics, and Traditions, from 1848 to 1870. [reprint 1973]. Princeton, 1951, pp. xii, 171–72, 174–76, fig. 68, notes Moreau's courage in attempting a theme that had been successfully handled by Ingres years before and adds that the main influence was Chassériau, although contemporary critics did not acknowledge this; cites and discusses the critical reception of it at the Salon of 1864; mentions that although critics praised it, they also charged the artist with eclecticism; remarks that its success, in terms of Moreau's career, was short-lived.
Bettina Polak. Het Fin-de-Siècle in de Nederlandse Shilderkunst: De symolistische beweging 1890–1900. The Hague, 1955, pp. 38–39, discusses it in a study of the sphinx in the art and literature of the nineteenth century.
Ragnar von Holten. "Oedipe et le sphinx: Gustave Moreau genombrottsverk." Tidskrift för Konstvetenskap: Symbolister 32 (1957), pp. 37–50, ill., mentions that the posture of the Sphinx may be derived from a poem by Heinrich Heine in the "Buch der Lieder".
Ragnar von Holten. L'art fantastique de Gustave Moreau. Paris, 1960, pp. 2–9, 13, fig. 6, remarks that for Moreau, the subject represents not only the fight between good and evil, but also between the sexes; agrees that this painting is eclectic, but comments that in Moreau's search to express his way of thinking, he has completely broken with the academic tradition of Ingres.
Dore Ashton. Odilon Redon, Gustave Moreau, Rodolphe Bresdin. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1961, pp. 113, 115, 179, no. 175, ill., comments that the transfixed gaze of Oedipus and the Sphinx is characteristic of Moreau "who again and again suggests an ambiguous mirror-image, two aspects, two abstract entities that confront each other and recognize each other all too well"; mentions that mountains commonly threaten the characters in Moreau's mythology and believes that here they have been transformed into towers or thrones, and seem to "symbolize an ideal of ascension".
Charles Sterling and Margaretta M. Salinger. "XIX–XX Centuries." French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 3, New York, 1967, pp. 1–5, ill., mention that Moreau made careful preparations for it, including more than thirty sketches, ten of which are studies of a large bird's wing, which served as a model for the wing of the sphinx, and that there are also two large cartoons; remark that after the Salon Moreau repeated the composition in a number of watercolors and in two paintings that have the appearance of sketches, but are dated May 1864.
Jean Paladilhe. Gustave Moreau. Paris, 1971, pp. 95, 97, 99, 102, 110–11, 137, ill.
Henri Dorra. "The Guesser Guessed: Gustave Moreau's Œdipus." Gazette des beaux-arts 81 (March 1973), pp. 129–140, ill., proposes that the pose of the sphinx and Oedipus is not based on a poem by Heine, but is derived from the Greek etymological meaning of the word sphinx, which is to clutch, embrace, or cling to; remarks that a paper on this subject written by Michel Bréal appeared in 1863, but notes that it is likely that this notion was current before that publication; discusses the symbolic meaning of some of the elements in the picture, particularly the crown and purple cloth which are seen as emblems of political power, the golden laurel, representing official academic honors, and the jewelry of the sphinx, material wealth; attributes autobiographical overtones to these elements; suggests that the prototype of Oedipus could be derived from the design of a Bithynian coin of Nicomedes II depicting Zeus leaning on a staff with an eagle on his right, and comments that Moreau was also probably affected by Renaissance mannerism; concludes that in it the principal "ingredients" of symbolism can be seen
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René Huyghe Lydie Huyghe in La Relève du réel: la peinture française au XIXe siècle: impressionnisme, symbolisme. Paris, 1974, pp. 267, 297, 452, ill.
Julius Kaplan. Gustave Moreau. Exh. cat., Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles, 1974, pp. 22–24, 26, 32–33, 41, 53, 80, 129–30, no. 28, ill., remarks that Moreau concieved Oedipus and the Sphinx in terms of a conflict between moral idealism and sensual desire; notes that Moreau supplemented Ingres's prototypes with classical and Persian scenes of confrontations between man and beast; suggests that Moreau borrowed from Michelangelo the static figures whose staring expresssions suggest they are lost in thought or dream; finds the style to be reminiscent of Carpaccio and the synthesis to be influenced by Poussin.
Peter Hahlbrock. Gustave Moreau oder Das Unbehagen in der Natur. Berlin, 1976, pp. 29, 49–54, 91–92, 101–3, 108, 121, 143, 153, 171–72, 174–75, 180–81, no. 36 (overall and detail).
Pierre-Louis Mathieu. Gustave Moreau: With a catalogue of finished paintings, watercolors and drawings. Boston, 1976, pp. 14, 18, 28, 70, 81–85, 94, 110–11, 128, 130, 197, 241, 257, 269 n. 312, pp. 284, 305, no. 64, ill. (color and black and white), discusses a series of watercolors and drawings made for it.
Hans H. Hofstätter. Gustave Moreau: Leben und Werk. 1978, pp. 24, 70–72, 81, colorpl. 9.
Monique Halm-Tisserant. "La sphinx amoureuse: Un schéma grec dans l'œuvre de G. Moreau." Revue des archéologues et historiens d'art de Louvain 14 (1981), pp. 30–68, fig. 2, suggests that the pose and concept of this work was inspired and informed by ancient examples, which Moreau could have seen in the Louvre or been familiar with from his own books.
Roy McMullen. Degas: His Life, Times, and Work. Boston, 1984, p. 107.
Geneviève Lacambre Pierre-Louis Mathieu in Gustave Moreau, Symboliste. Exh. cat., Kunsthaus Zürich. Zürich, 1986, pp. 11, 16, 21, 30, 32–33, 37, 39, 70–102, 124–25, 300, 325, no. 19, ill. (color).
Pierre-Louis Mathieu. Tout l'œuvre peint de Gustave Moreau. Paris, 1991, pp. 5, 8–9, 68, 87, no. 105, fig. 105, colorpl. VIII, states that Moreau began working on the composition in 1860, but mistakenly remarks that the earliest studies for it date from 1861.
Pierre-Louis Mathieu. Gustave Moreau. Paris, 1994, pp. 9, 48, 72–79, 81, 83, 90, 110–11, 132, 139, 191, 264–65, 269, 277 n. 5–6, p. 278 nn. 24–30, p. 280 n. 60, p. 287 n. 63, p. 288 n. 15, 292, ill. (color), states that it is difficult to establish whether Heine's poem from the "Buch der Leider" was a source of inspiration because of the dating of the preparatory sketches.
Michael Fried. Manet's Modernism: or, The Face of Painting in the 1860s. Chicago, 1996, pp. 10, 164, 308–12, 314–17, 577 nn. 125–26, p. 578 nn. 129, 133, colorpl. 14, observes that it was criticized for its "hard, detailed, linear style of Mantegna and other fifteenth-century Northern Italian masters," but also notes that it may have been the most highly-praised picture at any Salon of the 1860s; mentions that, in the alphabetically arranged Salon, it was in the same room as Manet's "The Dead Christ and the Angels" (MMA 29.100.51) and thus they were compared critically.
Julius Kaplan in The Dictionary of Art. 22, New York, 1996, p. 89.
Dominique Dussol. Art et bourgeoisie: La société des amis des arts de Bordeaux (1851–1939). Bordeaux, 1997, pp. 17, 150, 159, 269.
Pierre-Louis Mathieu. Gustave Moreau: Monographie et nouveau catalogue de l'œuvre achevé. Paris, 1998, pp. 50–51, 150, 190, 238, 294, no. 75, ill. (color and black and white), states that a man named "Doneto" posed for it.
Geneviève Lacambre. Gustave Moreau: Between Epic and Dream. Exh. cat., Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris. Chicago, 1999, pp. 2, 16, 75, 77–83 n. 17, p. 84 nn. 20–22, 27, pp. 92, 94, 99, 106, 108, 127, 196, 222, 282, no. 28, ill. (color, overall and detail) [French ed., 1998], observes that Moreau lists our painting in his notebook as no. 53 "Sphinx. Oedipus. A man of mature age wrestling with the enigma of life," the only picture of the subject marked with a cross to indicate that it has been completed; examines our picture within the context of its sources and other versions of the subject to elucidate Moreau's working methods; observes that the canvas was purchased on October 20, 1862 from Ottoz for Fr 30. and sold to Prince Napoleon on May 1, 1864 for Fr 8,000; quotes extensively from letters and press clippings containing reactions to its first exhibition at the Salon of 1864
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J.-M. Moret. "Gustave Moreau et l'antiquité." La lettre de la maison de l'Orient 21 (Spring 2000), pp. 4–5, fig. 1, argues that the pose for Oedipus comes from a funerary stele from Athens (Museum of Leiden, Germany).
Peter Cooke. "Gustave Moreau's 'Œdipus and the sphinx': archaism, temptation and the nude at the Salon of 1864." Burlington Magazine 146 (September 2004), pp. 609–15, fig. 18.
Atsuko Ogane. La Genèse de la danse de Salomé: L'"Appareil scientifique" et la symbolique polyvalente dans "Hérodias" de Flaubert. Tokyo, 2006, pp. 185–87, 251, colorpl. X.
Kathryn Calley Galitz in Masterpieces of European Painting, 1800–1920, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, pp. 73, 286, no. 67, ill. (color and black and white).
Kathryn Calley Galitz in The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. New York, 2007, pp. 68–69, 243, no. 45, ill. (overall and detail, color and black and white).
Geneviève Lacambre in Il Simbolismo da Moreau a Gauguin a Klimt. Exh. cat., Palazzo dei Diamanti. Ferrara, 2007, p. 190.
Scott C. Allan. "Interrogating Gustave Moreau's Sphinx: Myth as Artistic Metaphor in the 1864 Salon." Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide. 7, Spring 2008, pp. 1–21, fig. 1 (color).
Peter Cooke. "Gustave Moreau and the Reinvention of History Painting." Art Bulletin 90 (September 2008), pp. 394, 399–405, 408, 410–11, 433 n. 33, fig. 7, and ill. on cover (color detail), suggests that it is Moreau's attempt to "rival Ingres"; discusses it in the context of a "clear line of development" in Moreau's paintings between 1864 and 1869, which endeavor "to renew history painting through the application of an antitheatrical aesthetic to mythological subjects, without abandoning narrative".
Peter Cooke. "Symbolism, Decadence and Gustave Moreau." Burlington Magazine 151 (May 2009), pp. 312, 316, ill. p. 282, fig. 36 (color, overall and detail).
Guillermo Solana. Lágrimas de Eros. Exh. cat., Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Madrid, 2009, pp. 32, 277, fig. 8 (color).
