logo.gif (3909 bytes) Hiroshima mon Amore

   

Hiroshima mon Amore

Oil on canvas, 1979

The oil painting shows a woman looking up at a floating earth. A snake encircles the earth and is about to strike. Below the earth is a tiger who is about to bite the snake. In the background is a nuclear explosion. Behind the woman is a tall ornate enclosed chair.

Painted for Birdie Bloch, a great patron of Tom's. He painted her portrait several times and in this painting she let Tom do what he wanted. He painted an allegory about the benefits and dangers of Nuclear energy. Tom spent a lot of time at the circus to study the tigers. The bench is from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The blast in the background was from a famous nuclear cloud photo.

The painting is an allegory of threat. Painted in 1980 at the end of the Cold War it was meant to show the nuclear treat of the Cold War. The woman represents humanity and the tiger in front of her represents the powers available to her. The chair behind her represents her authority. The Earth represents herself and the snake represents the treat of a nuclear holocaust.  Today the treat is different but still there.