Taro Okamoto's Myth of Tomorrow

The Myth of Tomorrow, a 5.5-meter-by-30-meter mural, depicts the moment of an atomic-bomb explosion and a skeleton burning under a mushroom cloud while others flee.

The Myth of Tomorrow was painted from 1968 to 1969 by the artist to cover the walls of a new hotel opening in Mexico City, but was taken down before the opening after the hotel owner's business faltered, and it eventually disappeared. It was not until September 2003 that it resurfaced when the artist's late adopted daughter, Toshiko Okamoto, found it abandoned in a warehouse in "terrible condition."

The restored mural will be shown to the public until the end of August, according to the foundation that runs the Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum in Tokyo.

The Japan Times Weekly: July 15, 2006
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