Agate the Sphinx

Agate the Sphinx. Buenos Aires, winter 2014. Painting, Oil on canvas, Size: 47.2 W x 35.4 H in (120 W x 90 H cm).

The painting depicts the Sphinx triumphs over Oedipus at the crossroads on his journey between Thebes and Delphi. The Sphinx may be seen as a form of femme fatale, a common theme in Symbolist painting.

Opening poem of Buch der Lieder by Heinrich Heine: Nightly I see you in dreams-you speak, With kindliness sincerest, I throw myself, weeping aloud and weak At your sweet feet, my dearest. You look at me with wistful woe, And shake your golden curls; And stealing from your eyes there flow The teardrops like to pearls. You breathe in my ear a secret word, A garland of cypress for token. I wake; it is gone; the dream is blurred, And forgotten the word that was spoken.