The word “enigma” is defined as a mystery, a puzzle, or a problem - something that requires solving. As you see, the scene depicted in the painting is horrible: It's a battlefield, full of dead soldiers' bodies. At the top of a hill stands a sphinx, the mythical monster with the body of a lion and the head of a human. A winged woman seems to be asking the sphinx for mercy or begging for a truce. Everything around the two figures is destroyed; this is the end of the world. This painting was created after France's defeat by Prussia in 1870 and the resultant loss of Alsace-Lorraine, Doré's homeland.
The Enigma
oil on canvas • 130 x 195,5 cm
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Gustave Doré