This work by Moreau is a design for a ceiling decoration and a strikingly colorful and dramatic image of chaos

Yet another story from Greek mythology: Phaethon was the son of Clymene (an ocean nymph) and Helios, the Sun God in charge of driving his chariot each day across the heavens to provide the world with light and heat. Young Phaethon was challenged to prove his divine parentage and so he went to Helios and asked for permission to drive the chariot of the Sun

Helios was reluctant to consent knowing the risks but Phaethon persevered and was given the rein in the end. Helios cautioned his son: The chariot is fiery hot and the horses breathe out flames; and in the cosmos you must stay clear of the horns of Taurus, the arrows of Sagittarius, the jaw and sharp teeth of Leo, and Scorpio's pincers, Cancer's claws, Hydra’s venom, and many other dangers

But once Phaethon set off in the chariot, he lost control of the horses which scrambled in all directions: The world became frozen when they climbed too high, and when the chariot descended too near the Earth its land was scorched and Africa turned into a desert and the skins of a whole population darkened

Lest the entire Earth might burn up in flame, Zeus had to kill Phaethon with a lightning bolt, and the latter fell into the river Eridanos

Moreau’s watercolor shows Phaethon (the small naked male figure) in distress and the horses in disarray. Behind is the white-hot sun emitting brilliant yellow rays. The golden lion and the giant black serpent should represent respectively the constellations of Leo and Hydra, two of the celestial perils forewarned by Helios