A stereoscopic display apparatus and method performs and includes, respectively, steps of dividing each of a plurality of parallax images supplied from a parallax image source having parallax image information into stripe pixels, displaying, on a display, a single stripe image by arranging and synthesizing some of the stripe pixels in a predetermined order, displaying a slit pattern consisting of a light-transmission portion and a light-shielding portion arranged at a predetermined pitch on a spatial light modulation element arranged at a predetermined position on the front or rear side of the display, inputting light transmitted through the stripe pixels, corresponding to the right and left eyes of an observer, of the stripe image to the right and left eyes of the observer via the spatial light modulation element and synchronously displaying the stripe pattern and the slit pattern in units of pixels or scan lines on corresponding scan lines of the display and the spatial light modulation element.