Moomins to be celebrated by Gloucester venue with artwork

Roleff Kråkström, managing director of Moomin Characters Ltd, said Tove’s first Moomin book was written after she “lost her joy with painting” during World War Two.

“The story is about a family where the father’s gone missing in The Great Flood,” he said.

“It’s a story of refuge, it’s a displaced family and an allegory for Europe in 1945. Every family had lost someone and there were millions of people without a home.

“Unfortunately, today, Europe resembles the Europe of 1945 more than ever in our lifetime and we wanted to highlight this.

“We also wanted to bring out Tove’s extraordinary capacity to stay topical and portray catastrophe, hope, belonging, comradery, and courage in a way that stands time.”