Francis Picabia (Kids)

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*Sphinx*

Francis Picabia. Sphinx. 1929 6580

Francis Picabia. Sphinx. 1929. Oil on canvas, 51 9/16 × 64 3/16″ (131 × 163 cm). Centre Pompidou, Musée national d'art moderne – Centre de création industrielle, Paris. Purchase, 1933, by the State at the Musée du Jeu de Paume on October 15, 1933. © 2016 Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. Photo: © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI/Bertrand Prévost/Dist. RMN–Grand Palais/Art Resource, New York

Picabia named this painting after a mythical creature called a Sphinx. He wrote its name up along the top corner. Can you find it? S-P-H-I-N-X.

The Sphinx was famous for asking people riddles, and this painting is like a fantastic puzzle. Picabia painted so many pictures on top of other pictures, its like a game to find them all. Let’s play!

Look closely, can you see all the different faces? You might find someone’s nose turns into somebody else’s face. How many hands do you see? Who do they belong to?

There are some animals hidden in the painting. See if you can find two owls. There’s even a scary skull in there somewhere. Can you find it?