French painter Gustave Moreau was an artist famous for his symbolic images based on myth and legend. During the mid Nineteenth century, Moreau developed an artistic style that focused mainly on personal interpretations of Classical mythology and literature. Today, this individual and visionary style is often categorized as Symbolist. And with its emphasis on mythical femmes fatales (fatal women), sphinxes, sirens, and other dangerous creatures, Moreau's art perfectly suited the mood of audiences in fin de siècle France.

Gustave Moreau was born in Paris, France, in 1826. Moreau was the son of an architect, and perhaps partly because of this, the boy's early attraction to art was encouraged by his father. Moreau enrolled in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and also entered the studio of François-Edouard Picot (Picot also taught the more conventional painter, William Bouguereau). However, after failing to win the competition for the coveted Prix de Rome in 1849, Moreau withdrew from art school and embarked on a personal journey of artistic discovery. The young man soon found his inspiration in the form of works by the painters Théodore Chassériau and Eugène Delacroix. Ultimately, these two sources would lead Gustave Moreau to create what he termed "epic art that would not be academic art." In time, the artist achieved his goal, which is demonstrated in paintings such as The Apparition and Oedipus and the Sphinx.