In 1923 Meidner remarked, "Moderation is better than madness...what can be more important than the objects of this world? They are a thousand times closer to us than all the ideas of the world. And the great truths of Faith are not ideas but things which can be experienced by the senses. So, I strive...to bring life to an inner spiritual world. "With these words, Meidner repudiated Expressionism, its programmatic character and "madness," and returned to "moderation," meaning the things or objects of this world, among which he counted the "great truths of Faith."
His Prophet stands on the threshold between moderation and madness. It is reminiscent of an earlier period with its wild gesticulations and other worldly figures, inspired by the Old Testament and Jewish prophetic tradition. Still, apocalyptic madness lingers on, but the figure of the prophet is more calmly posed and carefully drawn. Gazing into the future, the trembling hand of the prophet betrays a heart filled with ecstasy and holy fear. Meidner's prophets are seers rather than admonishers. Most of them are nameless, typifying the restlessness of the human heart and awed by the divine tremendum. Their message is that of Meidner himself: "I have just begun my pilgrimage to the Kingdom of Truth." Crafting his seers and prophets before and after the war, Meidner first intuited and then knew by experience that the Kingdom suffers violence.
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