Hilma af Klint

The mystical world of Swedish artist Hilma af Klint (1862 – 1944), whose work from the early 20th century has only recently gained critical attention. An early pioneer of abstraction, af Klint created immersive, colorful paintings filled with geometric variations and biomorphic shapes.

Hilma af Klint painted as though she was channeling the universe. Her art was inseparable from her spiritual practice, and was inspired by the Theosophical Society and Rudolf Steiner’s theories. Working tirelessly to map life’s hidden dimensions, she would paint to the point of physical collapse. Living as a vegetarian, questioning the fixity of gender, af Klint was clearly before her time, yet very much of it too, and pretty much uncelebrated in her day. Her prodigious output lay unseen for decades, locked away by her own instruction. Only in the 1980s did the world begin to recognize her as a true pioneer of abstract art.