Old Age, Adolescence, and Infancy (The Three Ages)

Material Used: Oil on canvas
Size: 19 5/8 x 25 5/8 inches
The Dali Museum, St Petersburg

This work successfully combines Dali’s painterly skills of creating double images with his interest in mythology. This visual puzzle illustrates the answer to the Riddle of the Sphinx from the Greek tragedy, Oedipus Rex. “What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening?” The hero of the story, Oedipus, answers that man crawls on all fours in infancy, walks upright on two legs in adolescence, and uses a cane as a third leg in old age.