Henrique Alvim Corrêa's Martian Invasion Panic — War of the Worlds 1906
Before you stands one of the most historically significant illustrations ever produced for science fiction literature — a page from Henrique Alvim Corrêa's celebrated 1906 Belgian edition of H.G. Wells' 'La Guerre des Mondes.' The scene captures desperate human figures — including a woman clutching a child and a fleeing dog — scrambling through smoke and chaos while a fallen soldier lies motionless in the foreground. A commanding officer gestures urgently in the upper right as Martian destruction engulfs the landscape beyond.
Corrêa's pen-and-ink work here is restrained and journalistic rather than lurid — the chaos is conveyed through composition and frantic linework rather than sensationalism. The emotional weight is literary and dignified, befitting one of the most respected early sci-fi illustration commissions.
“AC”
