"As the moon is split apart by our superior force of gravity, its huge fragments will shatter our cities into oblivion" (Coronet magazine, July 1947)
Coronet magazine commissioned this painting for the article "The End of the World," less than two years after the nuclear attacks on Japan. This painting was captioned as follows: "The moon's influence on our ocean tides retards the earth's rotation about one second every 100,000 years. As the earth slows, the moon is receding to a point where the earth's rotation might accelerate and, like a colossal magnet, draw the moon back to within 8,000 miles of us. Then, as the moon is split apart by our superior force of gravity, its huge fragments will shatter our cities into oblivion..."