Oedipus and the Sphinx is an 1864 oil-on-canvas painting by the French artist Gustave Moreau. The picture depicts the story in Greek mythology of Oedipus meeting the Sphinx at a crossroads on his journey between Thebes and Delphi. Oedipus must answer the Sphinx's riddle correctly in order to pass, and failure to do so means his own death and that of the besieged Thebans. The painting is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.Painting credit: Gustave Moreau