Tove Jansson: Life, Art, Words

"I spent my early years in Norway and the Moomins were my surrogate family. There was hopeless old Moominpappa in his top hats being all grand, and Moominmamma in her apron who gets all the work done. It’s very feminist and they hit a universal nerve. So I loved Tove Jansson as a child. Then, when I read this biography, I realized that actually the Moomins started as Jansson’s political signature. When Hitler was annexing parts of Europe, she was drawing rude cartoons of him and signing them with a little Moomin. After the Munich Conference, she drew Hitler like a spoiled baby bawling for more cake while ignoring the slices of Europe he had already annexed. She said that what she liked best was being beastly to Hitler and Stalin . Her Moomin books are about political expression and not just domestic expression. She draws wonderfully and she was always painting. She did murals in public spaces like factories and schools. But it’s not a finished body of work, if you know what I mean."