The story comes from Greek mythology and Ovid’s Metamorphoses: Zeus disguises himself as a swan and approaches Leda, the wife of King Tyndareus of Sparta. Cézanne focuses almost entirely on the encounter itself, leaving out the elaborate mythological setting normally associated with the subject. Leda's body curves dramatically across the canvas while the swan's beak reaches around her wrist, making the relationship between the two figures the central visual tension. Interestingly, preparatory drawings show that Cézanne originally gave Leda a champagne glass; the pose was apparently inspired by the image on a champagne-bottle label.