Ludwig Meidner, Die Atombombe [The Atom Bomb], 1947
![Ludwig Meidner, „Die Atombombe“ [The Atom Bomb], 1947](/KIE/Content/EN/SpecialExhibitions/LudwigMeidner-en/Images/Objekte/meidner-atombombe-en.jpg?__blob=normal&v=1 "Ludwig Meidner, „Die Atombombe“ [The Atom Bomb], 1947")
Ludwig Meidner, Die Atombombe [The Atom Bomb], 1947
But we are now living in an age in which all tensions lead to violent eruptions and catastrophe.
letter from Ludwig Meidner to Joseph Paul Hodin, 1946, quoted from: Joseph Paul Hodin, Ludwig Meidner. Seine Kunst, seine Persönlichkeit, seine Zeit, Darmstadt 1973, p. 121
Contrary to what one might expect, Meidner did not experience his post-war years in London as a time of optimism or new beginnings. One reason for this no doubt lay in the difficult economic and social situation prevailing in England. Whereas in Germany the first signs of the economic miracle were already becoming evident, in Great Britain, which was in the process of losing its colonies, food rationing continued until 1954.
During these years, rather than experiencing a sense of relief due to the victory over Nazi Germany, Meidner is despondent and plagued by anxieties about the future. He repeatedly refers to forebodings of a global catastrophe that will trigger worldwide famine:
"After the famine only a small number of people will remain. The cities will be empty and desolate, the machines useless. No one will understand them, they will fall apart. The few remaining people will feel afraid in the cities and will live outside them in the countryside. The buildings will gradually crumble."
(quoted from: Joseph Paul Hodin, Ludwig Meidner. Seine Kunst, seine Persönlichkeit, seine Zeit, Darmstadt 1973, p. 123f.)
Further reading:
Horcher in die Zeit. Ludwig Meidner im Exil (exhibition catalog Museum Giersch der Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main), Munich 2016.
Joseph Paul Hodin, Ludwig Meidner. Seine Kunst, seine Persönlichkeit, seine Zeit, Darmstadt 1973.
Gallery
![Ludwig Meidner, Hinweis auf mich selbst [Referring to myself], 1944 (?)](/KIE/Content/EN/SpecialExhibitions/LudwigMeidner-en/Images/Objekte/meidner-hinweis-en.jpg?__blob=thumbnail&v=1 "Ludwig Meidner, Hinweis auf mich selbst [Referring to myself], 1944 (?)")
