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Nature & Art: Beauty & Destruction in Wartime London

Tuesday, September 29, 2026 4:17

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This painting is called The Haberdashers’ Hall 8th May 1945. That’s the date WW2 hostilites ended in Europe. It’s on display at Beauty and Destruction: Wartime London, a free exhibition that tells the story of London during the Second World War as seen by artists, and is at the Imperial War Museum until November 1st.

It’s a really moving exhibition, showing the turmoil and devastation the city experienced during the war. Most of the pictures depict things like air raids, buildings on fire, people in shelters, and wounded being treated. I chose to focus on this one for my blog, because it’s about nature thriving in the aftermath of destruction.

Artist Eliot Hidgkin wanted to capture plants growing on a bombsite “before post-war rebuilding sweeps them away forever.” Although I wasn’t alive during the war, I do remember there were still some bombsites covered in wildflowers when I was very young.

The flowers in the painting include “bombweed”, or rosebay willowherb, known for being one of the first plants to emerge where buildings have been destroyed. It has pink flowers and long leaves. I can also see what looks like ox-eye daisies and possibly ragwort, but I’m not entirely sure. If you think you can identify the various wildflowers better, please leave a comment.

I’d never been inside the Imperial War Museum before, because I’m not someone who feels war should in any way be glorified, but I’m glad I saw this exhibition. I very much recommend it for anyone interested in London’s history.

The museum is situated in a large park, which I’ll be blogging about in a separate post as part of my Green London series, but I thought this picture was worth mentioning first. The park will be there for a long while (hopefully), but the exhibition ends in just a month.

To read more posts like this visit A Bad Witch’s Blog at www.badwitch.co.uk

Source: http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2026/09/nature-art-beauty-destruction-in.html

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