Hilma af Klint
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Hilma af Klint (; 26 October 1862 – 21 October 1944) was a Swedish
artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...
and mystic whose paintings are considered among the first abstract works known in Western art history. A considerable body of her work predates the first purely abstract compositions by
Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (; rus, Василий Васильевич Кандинский, Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy, vɐˈsʲilʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ kɐnʲˈdʲinskʲɪj;  – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter a ...
, Malevich and Mondrian. She belonged to a group called "The Five", comprising a circle of women inspired by
Theosophy Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion a ...
, who shared a belief in the importance of trying to contact the so-called " High Masters"—often by way of
séance A séance or seance (; ) is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word ''séance'' comes from the French word for "session", from the Old French ''seoir'', "to sit". In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, spe ...
s. Her paintings, which sometimes resemble diagrams, were a visual representation of complex spiritual ideas.


Early life

Hilma af Klint was the fourth child of Mathilda af Klint (née Sonntag) and Captain Victor af Klint, a Swedish naval commander, and she spent summers with her family at their manor, "Hanmora", on the island of
Adelsö Adelsö is an island in the middle of Lake Mälaren in Sweden, near Björkfjärden. The island is part of Ekerö Municipality and Stockholm County. It is about by ferry and road west of downtown Stockholm. The administrative center of the im ...
in
Lake Mälaren A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...
. In these idyllic surroundings she came into contact with nature at an early stage in her life, and a deep association with natural forms was to be an inspiration in her work. Later in life, Hilma af Klint lived permanently on
Munsö Munsö is a village and a former island (the latter is also known as Munsön) in Ekerö Municipality, Stockholm County in Sweden. Because of post-glacial rebound Post-glacial rebound (also called isostatic rebound or crustal rebound) is the ...
, an island next to Adelsö. From her family, Hilma af Klint inherited a great interest for
mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
and
botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...
. She showed an early ability in visual art and, after the family moved to Stockholm, she studied at Tekniska skolan in Stockholm (
Konstfack Konstfack, or University of Arts, Crafts and Design, is a university college for higher education in the area of art, crafts and design in Stockholm, Sweden. History Konstfack has had several different names since it was founded in 1844 by the e ...
today), where she learned portraiture and landscape painting. She was admitted at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts at the age of twenty. During the years 1882–1887 she studied mainly drawing, portrait painting, and landscape painting. She graduated with honors and was allocated a scholarship in the form of a studio in the so-called "Atelier Building" (Ateljébyggnaden), owned by The Academy of Fine Arts between
Hamngatan Hamngatan (Swedish: ''Port Street'') is a street in central Stockholm. It goes from Sergels torg down to Nybroplan, past NK department store, Kungsträdgården, Norrmalmstorg, and Berzelii Park. The Djurgården line travels along this street bet ...
and
Kungsträdgården Kungsträdgården (Swedish language, Swedish for "King's Garden") is a park in central Stockholm, Sweden. It is colloquially known as ''Kungsan''. The park's central location and its outdoor cafés makes it one of the most popular hangouts ...
in central Stockholm. This was the main cultural hub in the Swedish capital at that time. The same building also held
Blanch's Café Blanch's Café was a café in Stockholm, Sweden, located in a now demolished building on Hamngatan Hamngatan (Swedish: ''Port Street'') is a street in central Stockholm. It goes from Sergels torg down to Nybroplan, past NK department store ...
and Blanch's Art Gallery, where conflict existed between the conventional art view of the Academy of Fine Arts and the opposition movement of the Art Society (
Konstnärsförbundet Konstnärsförbundet ('the Artists' Association') was an association of Swedish artists founded in 1886 in opposition to the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts. Background and members The association demanded reforms in the Academy's organizat ...
), inspired by the French
En Plein Air ''En plein air'' (; French for 'outdoors'), or ''plein air'' painting, is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein air' painting ...
painters. Hilma af Klint began working in Stockholm, gaining recognition for her landscapes, botanical drawings, and portraits. Her conventional painting became the source of financial income, but her 'life's work' remained a quite separate practice.


Spiritual and philosophical ideas

In 1880 her younger sister Hermina died, and it was at this time that the spiritual dimension of her life began to develop. Her interest in abstraction and symbolism came from Hilma af Klint's involvement in
spiritism Spiritism (French: ''spiritisme''; Portuguese: ''espiritismo'') is a spiritualist, religious, and philosophical doctrine established in France in the 1850s by the French teacher, educational writer, and translator Hippolyte Léon Denizard Riva ...
, very much in vogue at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century. Her experiments in spiritual investigation started in 1879. She became interested in the
Theosophy Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion a ...
of
Madame Blavatsky Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, uk, Олена Петрівна Блаватська, Olena Petrivna Blavatska (; – 8 May 1891), often known as Madame Blavatsky, was a Russian mystic and author who co-founded the Theosophical Society in 1875 ...
and the philosophy of
Christian Rosencreutz Christian Rosenkreuz (also spelled Rosenkreutz, Rosencreutz, Christiani Rosencreütz and Christian Rose Cross) is the Legend, legendary, possibly Allegory, allegorical, founder of the Rosicrucianism, Rosicrucian Order (Order of the Rose Cross). ...
. In 1908 she met
Rudolf Steiner Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner (27 or 25 February 1861 – 30 March 1925) was an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century as a ...
, the founder of the
Anthroposophical Society The General Anthroposophical Society is an "association of people whose will it is to nurture the life of the soul, both in the individual and in human society, on the basis of a true knowledge of the spiritual world." As an organization, it is d ...
, who was visiting Stockholm. Steiner introduced her to his own theories regarding the Arts, and would have some influence on her paintings later in life. Several years later, in 1920, she met him again at the
Goetheanum The Goetheanum, located in Dornach, in the canton of Solothurn, Switzerland, is the world center for the anthroposophical movement. The building was designed by Rudolf Steiner and named after Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It includes two performa ...
in
Dornach : ''Dornach is also a quarter of the French city of Mulhouse and the Scots name for Dornoch in the Scottish Highlands, and Dòrnach is the Gaelic name for Dornoch in the Scottish Highlands.'' Dornach (Swiss German: ''Dornech'') is a municipalit ...
, Switzerland, the headquarters of the Anthroposophical Society. Between 1921 and 1930 she spent long periods at the Goetheanum. Af Klint's work can be understood in the wider context of the
Modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...
search for new forms in artistic, spiritual, political, and scientific systems at the beginning of the twentieth century. There was a similar interest in spirituality by other artists during this same period, including
Wassily Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (; rus, Василий Васильевич Кандинский, Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy, vɐˈsʲilʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ kɐnʲˈdʲinskʲɪj;  – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter a ...
,
Piet Mondrian Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (), after 1906 known as Piet Mondrian (, also , ; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), was a Dutch painter and art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He is known for being ...
,
Kasimir Malevitch Kazimir Severinovich Malevich ; german: Kasimir Malewitsch; pl, Kazimierz Malewicz; russian: Казими́р Севери́нович Мале́вич ; uk, Казимир Северинович Малевич, translit=Kazymyr Severynovych ...
, and the French
Nabis Nabis ( grc-gre, Νάβις) was the last king of independent Sparta. He was probably a member of the Heracleidae, and he ruled from 207 BC to 192 BC, during the years of the First and Second Macedonian Wars and the eponymous "War against Nabis" ...
, in which many, like af Klint, were inspired by the Theosophical Movement. The works of Hilma af Klint are mainly spiritual, and her artistic work is a consequence of this. She felt the abstract work and the meaning within were so groundbreaking that the world was not ready to see it, and she wished for the work to remain unseen for 20 years after her death.


Work

At the Academy of Fine Arts she met
Anna Cassel ''Anna'' Maria Augusta Cassel (15 March 1860 close to Grythyttan – 18 February 1937 in Stockholm) was a Swedish artist. She mainly painted landscapes from Norrland, Skåne, Västmanland and around Stockholm, made in oil or in tempera. Biog ...
, the first of the four women with whom she later worked in "The Five" (''De Fem''), a group of artists who shared her ideas. The other members were
Cornelia Cederberg ''Cornelia'' Carolina Amalia Cederberg, born on November 6 1854 in Stockholm, died February 21 1933 in Stockholm, was one of the members of the group ''De Fem'' (''The Five''), a spiritualistic group founded in 1896, and dissolved in 1907. The o ...
,
Sigrid Hedman ''Sigrid'' Elisabeth Hedman, maiden name ''Norman'' (April 26, 1855 in Stockholm – February 28, 1922 in Solna outside of Stockholm), was one of the members of the group ''De Fem'' (''The Five''), a Spiritualism (movement), spiritualist group found ...
, and
Mathilda Nilsson Emma 'Mathilda' Nilsson, née ''Cederberg'' (July 13, 1844 – June 28, 1923) was a Swedish Spiritualism (movement), spiritualist from Stockholm. Spiritualism Mathilda Nilsson was a high-profile within the spiritualistic society in Stockholm. Sh ...
. ''The Five'' began their association as members of the Edelweiss Society, which embraced a combination of the Theosophical teachings of
Helena Blavatsky Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, uk, Олена Петрівна Блаватська, Olena Petrivna Blavatska (; – 8 May 1891), often known as Madame Blavatsky, was a Russian mystic and author who co-founded the Theosophical Society in 187 ...
and spiritualism. All of ''The Five'' were interested in the paranormal and regularly organized spiritistic séances. They opened each meeting with a prayer, followed by a meditation, a Christian sermon, and a review and analysis of a text from the New Testament. This would be followed by a séance. They recorded in a book a completely new system of mystical thought, in the form of messages from higher spirits called ''The High Masters'' ("Höga Mästare"). One, Gregor, announced, "All the knowledge that is not of the senses, not of the intellect, not of the heart but is the property that exclusively belongs to the deepest aspect of your being...the knowledge of your spirit". Through her work with ''The Five'', Hilma af Klint created experimental automatic drawing as early as 1896, leading her toward an inventive geometric
visual language A visual language is a system of communication using visual elements. Speech as a means of communication cannot strictly be separated from the whole of human communicative activity which includes the visual and the term 'language' in relation to ...
capable of conceptualizing invisible forces both of the inner and outer worlds. She explored world religions, atoms, and the plant world and wrote extensively about her discoveries. As she became more familiar with this form of expression, Hilma af Klint was assigned by the High Masters to create the paintings for the "Temple" – however she never understood what this "Temple" referred to. Hilma af Klint felt she was being directed by a force that would literally guide her hand. She wrote in her notebook:
The pictures were painted directly through me, without any preliminary drawings, and with great force. I had no idea what the paintings were supposed to depict; nevertheless I worked swiftly and surely, without changing a single brush stroke.
In 1906, after 20 years of artistic works, and at the age of 44, Hilma af Klint painted her first series of abstract paintings. The works for the Temple were created between 1906 and 1915, carried out in two phases with an interruption between 1908 and 1912. As Hilma af Klint discovered her new form of visual expression, she developed a new artistic language. Her painting became more autonomous and more intentional. The spiritual would continue to be the main source of creativity throughout the rest of her life. The collection for the Temple is 193 paintings, grouped within several sub-series. The major paintings, dated 1907, are extremely large: each painting measures approximately 240 x 320 cm. This series, called ''The Ten Largest'', describes the different phases of life, from early childhood to old age. Quite apart from their diagrammatic purpose the paintings have a freshness and a modern aesthetic of tentative line and hastily captured image: a segmented circle, a helix bisected and divided into a spectrum of lightly painted colours. The artistic world of Hilma af Klint is impregnated with symbols, letters, and words. The paintings often depict symmetrical dualities, or reciprocities: up and down, in and out, earthly and esoteric, male and female, good and evil. The colour choice throughout is metaphorical: blue stands for the female spirit, yellow for the male one, and pink / red for physical / spiritual love. ''The Swan'' and ''the Dove'', names of two series of the ''Paintings for the Temple'', are also symbolic, representing respectively transcendence and love. Understood as gates to other dimensions, her paintings call for interpretation on a narrative, esoteric and artistic level while evoking primordial geometry and humanistic motifs. When Hilma af Klint had completed the works for the Temple, the spiritual guidance ended. However, she continued to pursue abstract painting, now independent from any external influence. The paintings for the Temple were mostly oil paintings, but she now also used watercolours. Her later paintings are significantly smaller in size. She painted among others a series depicting the stand-points of different religions at various stages in history, as well as representations of the duality between the physical being and its equivalence on an esoteric level. As Hilma af Klint pursued her artistic and esoteric research, it is possible to perceive a certain inspiration from the artistic theories developed by the Anthroposophical Society from 1920 onward. Through her life, Hilma af Klint would seek to understand the mysteries that she had come in contact with through her work. She produced more than 150 notebooks with her thoughts and studies. In 1908 af Klint met
Rudolf Steiner Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner (27 or 25 February 1861 – 30 March 1925) was an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century as a ...
for the first time. In one of the few remaining letters, she was asking Steiner to visit her in Stockholm and see the finished part of the ''Paintings for the Temple'' series, 111 paintings in total. Steiner did see the paintings but mostly left unimpressed, stating that her way of working was inappropriate for a theosophist. According to H.P.
Blavatsky Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, uk, Олена Петрівна Блаватська, Olena Petrivna Blavatska (; – 8 May 1891), often known as Madame Blavatsky, was a Russian Mysticism, mystic and author who co-founded the Theosophical Socie ...
,
mediumship Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or ghost, spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship o ...
was a faulty practice, leading its adepts on the wrong path of occultism and black magic. However, during their meeting, Steiner stated that af Klint's contemporaries would not be able to accept and understand their paintings, and it would take another 50 years to decipher them. Of all the paintings shown to him, Steiner paid special attention only to the ''Primordial Chaos'' Group, noting them as "the best symbolically". After meeting Steiner, af Klint was devastated by his response and, apparently, stopped painting for 4 years. Interestingly enough, Steiner kept photographs of some of af Klint's artworks, some of them even hand-coloured. Later the same year he met Wassily Kandinsky, who had not yet come to abstract painting. Some art historians assume that Kandinsky could have seen the photographs and perhaps was influenced by them while developing his own abstract path. Later in her life, she made a decision to destroy all her correspondence. She left a collection of more than 1200 paintings and 125 diaries to her nephew, Erik af Klint. Among her last paintings made in 1930s, there are two watercolours predicting the events of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, titled ''The Blitz'' and ''The Fight in the Mediterranean''. Despite the popular belief that Hilma af Klint had chosen to never exhibit her abstract works during her lifetime, in recent years art historians such as Julia Voss uncovered enough evidence of af Klint making an actual effort to show her art to the public. Around 1920 in Dornach, Switzerland, af Klint met Dutch
eurythmist Eurythmy is an expressive performing art, movement art originated by Rudolf Steiner in conjunction with Marie Steiner-von Sivers, his wife, Marie, in the early 20th century. Primarily a performance art, it is also used in pedagogy, education, esp ...
Peggy Kloppers-Moltzer, who was also a member of The
Anthroposophical Society The General Anthroposophical Society is an "association of people whose will it is to nurture the life of the soul, both in the individual and in human society, on the basis of a true knowledge of the spiritual world." As an organization, it is d ...
. Later, the artist travelled to Amsterdam, where she and Kloppers discussed the possible exhibition with the editors of art and architecture magazine ''
Wendingen ''Wendingen'' (Dutch: ''Inversion'' or ''Upheaval'', literally ''turns'') was an architecture and art magazine that appeared from 1918 to 1932. It was a monthly publication aimed at architects and interior designers. The booklet was publis ...
''. Although the Amsterdam talks did not bring any result, at least one exhibition of Hilma af Klint's abstract works actually happened in London several years later. In July 1928 in London, the World Conference on Spiritual Science took place, with Kloppers being one of the organizing committee members. Originally, Hilma af Klint was excluded from the circle of participants, but after Kloppers' insistence, the matter was settled. In July 1928 Hilma af Klint takes a boat trip from Stockholm to London, along with some of her large-scale paintings. In her postcard to
Anna Cassel ''Anna'' Maria Augusta Cassel (15 March 1860 close to Grythyttan – 18 February 1937 in Stockholm) was a Swedish artist. She mainly painted landscapes from Norrland, Skåne, Västmanland and around Stockholm, made in oil or in tempera. Biog ...
(discovered only in 2018) af Klint writes that she was not alone during this 4-day trip. Despite af Klint not stating the name, Julia Voss suggests that most likely her companion was Thomasine Andersson, an old friend from De Fem days. Voss also stated that despite the list of paintings presented being unknown, we can suggest that these were some extracts from the ''Paintings for the Temple'' series. Hilma af Klint died in
Djursholm Djursholm () is one of four suburban districts in, and the seat of Danderyd Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden. Djursholm is included in the multi-municipal Stockholm urban area. Djursholm is divided into a number of different areas: Djursh ...
, Sweden in 1944, nearly 82 years old, in the aftermath of a traffic accident, having only exhibited her works a handful of times, mainly at spiritual conferences and gatherings. She is buried at
Galärvarvskyrkogården Galärvarvskyrkogården (literally Galley Shipyard Cemetery) is a cemetery on the island of Djurgården in Stockholm, Sweden. It has about 1,300 burial sites and an area of approximately 0.9 hectares. History Galärvarvskyrkogården in Djurgård ...
in Stockholm.


Signature style

Hilma Af Klint's later period abstract art (1906-1920) delved into symbolism with a combination of geometry, figuration, scientific research and religious practices. Her studies of organic growth, including shells and flowers, helped her portray life through a spiritual lens. Her individual or signature
style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...
was also marked with impressions from the late 19th and early 20th century scientific discoveries as also influenced by contemporary spiritual movements such as
theosophy Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion a ...
and anthrosophy too. The idea to transcend the physical world and the constraints of representational art is visible in her abstract paintings.  Her symbolic visual language has an ordered progression that reflects her understanding of grids, circles, spirals and petal-like forms—sometimes diagrammatic, sometimes biomorphic. Her paintings also explored dichotomy of the world. Spiral forms appear often in her art, as they do in the automatic drawings by
De Fem ''Anna'' Maria Augusta Cassel (15 March 1860 close to Grythyttan – 18 February 1937 in Stockholm) was a Swedish artist. She mainly painted landscapes from Norrland, Scania, Skåne, Västmanland and around Stockholm, made in oil or in tempera. ...
. While every such geometric form, in this case, Spiral suggests growth, progress and evolution, color choices also are metaphorical in nature. As one of the Proto-Feminist Artists, her style represents the sublime in the art.


Legacy

In her will, Hilma af Klint left all her abstract paintings to her nephew, vice-admiral Erik af Klint of the
Royal Swedish Navy The Swedish Navy ( sv, Svenska marinen) is the naval branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. It is composed of surface and submarine naval units – the Fleet () – as well as marine units, the Amphibious Corps (). In Swedish, vessels o ...
. She specified that her work should be kept secret for at least 20 years after her death. When the boxes were opened at the end of the 1960s, very few persons had knowledge of what would be revealed. In 1970 her paintings were offered as a gift to Moderna Museet i Stockholm, but the donation was declined. Erik af Klint then donated thousands of drawings and paintings to a foundation bearing the artist's name in the 1970s.Clemens Bomsdorf (13 April 2017)
Museum for pioneer of abstraction Hilma af Klint is stuck in limbo
''
The Art Newspaper ''The Art Newspaper'' is a monthly print publication, with daily updates online, founded in 1990 and based in London and New York City. It covers news of the visual arts as they are affected by international politics and economics, developments ...
''.
Thanks to the art historian Åke Fant, her art was introduced to an international audience in the 1980s, when he presented her at a
Nordik NORDIK, or the Nordic Association for Art Historians, is an association of art historians from universities and museums in the Nordic countries. The committee was founded in Helsinki in 1984 to promote research networks between Nordic art historian ...
conference in
Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
in 1984. The collection of abstract paintings of Hilma af Klint includes more than 1200 pieces. It is owned and managed by the Hilma af Klint Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden. In 2017, Norwegian architectural firm
Snøhetta Snøhetta is the highest mountain in the Dovrefjell mountain range in Norway. At , it is the highest mountain in Norway outside the Jotunheimen range, making it the 24th highest peak in Norway, based on a topographic prominence cutoff. At , it ...
presented plans for an exhibition centre dedicated to af Klint in Järna, south of Stockholm, with estimated building costs of €6 to 7.5 million. In February 2018, the Foundation signed a long-term agreement of cooperation with the Moderna Museet, thereby confirming the perennity of the Hilma af Klint Room, i.e., a dedicated space at the museum where a dozen works of the artist are shown on a continuous basis.


Cultural references

* Hilma af Klint and her work are presented in the movie ''
Personal Shopper A personal shopper is a person who helps others shop by giving advice and making suggestions. They are often employed by department stores and boutiques, although some are freelance or work exclusively online. Their focus is usually on clothes, a ...
'', in which the main character, played by Kristen Stewart, researches art that is inspired by spirits. * The work of Hilma af Klint is cited by Jane Weaver as inspiration for ''
Modern Kosmology Jane Louise Weaver (born 28 February 1972) is an English singer, songwriter, and acoustic guitar, guitarist. She runs the label Bird Records, an offshoot of Twisted Nerve Records. Weaver has performed as part of the Britpop group Kill Laura, the ...
''. * Af Klint was the subject of a 2019 feature-length documentary by German director , titled ''Beyond the Visible — Hilma af Klint''. * Af Klint's work is presented in the 2020 short film ''
Point and Line to Plane ''Point and Line to Plane'' is a 2020 Canadian dramatic short film directed by Sofia Bohdanowicz and starring Deragh Campbell. The film continues to follow the character Audrey Benac (originated in 2016's ''Never Eat Alone''). The film premiered a ...
'', written and directed by
Sofia Bohdanowicz Sofia Bohdanowicz is a Canadian filmmaker. She is known for her collaborations with Deragh Campbell and made her List of directorial debuts, feature film directorial debut in 2016 with ''Never Eat Alone''. Her second feature film, ''Maison du Bonh ...
. The short features the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the permanent home of a continuously exp ...
's 2018 exhibition ''Hilma Af Klint: Paintings for the Future'', which is seen in mid-installation.


Exhibitions (posthumous)

The abstract work of Hilma af Klint was shown for the first time at the exhibition "The Spiritual in Art, Abstract Painting 1890–1985" organized by
Maurice Tuchman Maurice Tuchman (born November 30, 1936) is an American curator. He worked as the first curator of twentieth century art at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), where he organized several exhibitions which were influential in the development ...
in Los Angeles in 1986. This exhibition was the starting point of her international recognition. “Hilma Af Klint: Paintings for the Future” the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the permanent home of a continuously exp ...
’s exhibition was the most-visited exhibition in the museum’s 60-year history. The show was attended by over 600,000 visitors.


Selected exhibitions

* ''The Spiritual in Art: Abstract Painting 1890–1985'',
Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...
, Los Angeles, USA. 23 November 1986 – 8 March 1987. Travelling exhibition :
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago is a contemporary art museum near Water Tower Place in downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is one of the world's largest contemporary ...
, USA. 17 April – 19 July 1987;
Gemeentemuseum Den Haag The Kunstmuseum Den Haag is an art museum in The Hague in the Netherlands, founded in 1866 as the Museum voor Moderne Kunst. Later, until 1998, it was known as Haags Gemeentemuseum, and until the end of September 2019 as Gemeentemuseum Den Haag. I ...
, Netherlands. 1 September – 22 November 1987 * ''Hilma af Klints hemliga bilder'', Nordic Art Association, Sveaborg Helsinki, Finland 1988–1989 * ''The Secret Pictures by Hilma af Klint'',
MoMA PS1 MoMA PS1 is a contemporary art institution located in Court Square in the Long Island City neighborhood in the borough of Queens, New York City. In addition to its exhibitions, the institution organizes the Sunday Sessions performance series, th ...
, Queens, New York. 15 January – 12 March 1989 * ''Ockult målarinna och abstrakt pionjär'', Moderna Museet i Stockholm, Sweden 1989–1991. Travelling exhibition :
Göteborgs Konsthall Göteborgs Konsthall is a museum of contemporary art in Gothenburg, Sweden. Description Göteborgs Konsthall features both Swedish and international art. It is situated in a classicistic building from 1923 at Götaplatsen in the center of ...
, Gothenburg, Sweden; Lunds Konsthall, Lund, Sweden; Fyns Kunstmuseum, Denmark. * ''Okkultismus und Abstraktion, Die Malerin Hilma af Klint'',
Albertina The Albertina is a museum in the Innere Stadt (First District) of Vienna, Austria. It houses one of the largest and most important print rooms in the world with approximately 65,000 drawings and approximately 1 million old master prints, as well ...
, Vienna, Austria 1991–1992. Travelling exhibition :
Kunsthaus Graz The Kunsthaus Graz, Grazer Kunsthaus, or Graz Art Museum was built as part of the European Capital of Culture celebrations in 2003 and has since become an architectural landmark in Graz, Austria. Its exhibition program specializes in contemporar ...
, Austria; Modern Museum of Passau, Germany * ''Målningarna till templet'' (The paintings to the Temple),
Liljevalchs konsthall Liljevalchs konsthall ( Swedish for "Liljevalch's Art Gallery") is an art gallery located on the Djurgården island in Stockholm, Sweden. Designed by architect Carl Bergsten (1879–1935) and inaugurated in March 1916, it is today owned by the Cit ...
, Stockholm, Sweden 1999–2000 * ''3 x Abstraction: New Methods of Drawing'', The Drawing Center, New York, USA 2005–2006; Santa Monica Museum of Art, USA; Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland 2005–2006 * ''An Atom in the Universe'', Camden Arts Centre, UK 2006 * ''The Alpine Cathedral and The City-Crown, Josiah McElheny''. Moderna Museet i Stockholm, Sweden. 1 December 2007 – 31 March 2008 (represented by 14 paintings) * ''The Message. The Medium as artist – Das Medium als Künstler'' Museum in Bochum, Germany. 16 February – 13 April 2008 (represented by 4 paintings) * ''Traces du Sacré'' Centre Pompidou, Paris, France. 7 May – 11 August 2008. (represented by 7 paintings) * ''Hilma af Klint – Une modernité rélévée'' Centre Culturel Suédois, Paris, France. April – August 2008 (represented by 59 paintings) * ''Traces du Sacré'' Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany. 18 September 2008 – 11 January 2009 * ''De geheime schilderijen van Hilma af Klint'', Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Arnhem, Netherlands. 7 March 2010 – 30 May 2010 * '' Beyond Colour'', ''See! Colour!'' – Four exhibitions at the Cultural Center in Järna, South of Stockholm, Sweden.
James Turrell James Turrell (born May 6, 1943) is an American artist known for his work within the Light and Space movement. Much of Turrell's career has been devoted to a still-unfinished work, ''Roden Crater'', a natural cinder cone crater located outside ...
,
Rudolf Steiner Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner (27 or 25 February 1861 – 30 March 1925) was an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century as a ...
, 14 May – Oktober 2, 2011 * ''Hilma af Klint – a Pioneer of Abstraction'' was produced by and showed at Moderna Museet i Stockholm, Sweden, from 16 February until 26 May 2013, before touring to Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart in Berlin, Germany, from 15 June to 6 October; Museo Picasso Málaga, Spain, from 21 October 2013 to 9 February 2014;
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art is an art museum located on the shore of the Øresund Sound in Humlebæk, north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the most visited art museum in Denmark, and has an extensive permanent collection of modern and cont ...
, Humblebaek, Copenhaguen, Denmark 2014;
Henie Onstad Kunstsenter The Henie Onstad Kunstsenter is an art museum located at Høvikodden in Bærum municipality in Viken county, Norway. It is situated on a headland jutting into the Oslofjord, approximately southwest of Oslo. History The artcentre was founded ...
, Oslo, Norway 2015; Kumu, Tallinn, Estonia 2015 * Works by af Klint was exhibited at the Central Pavilion of the 55th
Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...
, Italy. 1 June – 24 November 2013. * ''Cosa mentale – Imaginaries of Telepathy of the 20th-Century Art'', Centre Pompidou, Metz, France. 28 October 2015 – 28 March 2016 (9 paintings) * ''Painting the Unseen'',
Serpentine Galleries The Serpentine Galleries are two contemporary art galleries in Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Central London. Recently rebranded to just Serpentine, the organisation is split across Serpentine South, previously known as the Serpentine Gallery, ...
, London, UK. 3 March – 15 May 2016 * ''The Keeper'',
New Museum of Contemporary Art The New Museum of Contemporary Art, founded in 1977 by Marcia Tucker, is a museum in New York City at 235 Bowery, on Manhattan's Lower East Side. History The museum originally opened in a space in the Graduate Center of the then-named New Scho ...
, New York, USA 20 July – 2 October 2016 * ''Beyond Stars – The Mystical Landscape from Monet to Kandinsky'',
Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art ...
, Paris, France. 14 March – 25 June 2017 (1 painting) * ''Jardin infini. De Giverny à l'Amazonie'', Centre Pompidou, Metz, France. 18 March – 28 August 2017 (7 paintings) * ''L'emozione dei COLORI nell'arte'', Galleria civica d'arte moderna e contemporanea GAM of Turin, Italy. 14 March – 23 July 2017 * ''As Above, So Below'',
Irish Museum of Modern Art The Irish Museum of Modern Art ( ga, Áras Nua-Ealaíne na hÉireann) also known as IMMA, is Ireland's leading national institution for the collection and presentation of modern and contemporary art. Located in Kilmainham, Dublin, the Museum pr ...
, Dublin, Ireland. 13 April – 27 August 2017 * ''Intuition'',
Palazzo Fortuny Fortuny () is a surname of Catalan origin. It may refer to: * Diego Fortuny (born 1991), Argentine rugby union player * Enzo Fortuny (born 1981), Mexican voice actor * José Manuel Fortuny (1916–2005), Guatemalan Communist leader * Mariano Fortu ...
in Venice, Italy. 13 May – 26 November 2017 * ''Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art (GIBCA)'',
Göteborgs Konsthall Göteborgs Konsthall is a museum of contemporary art in Gothenburg, Sweden. Description Göteborgs Konsthall features both Swedish and international art. It is situated in a classicistic building from 1923 at Götaplatsen in the center of ...
in Gothenburg, Sweden. 9 September – 19 November 2017 * ''Hilma af Klint'',
Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo The ''Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo'' (Portuguese for "pinacotheca (picture gallery) of the state of São Paulo") is one of the most important art museums in Brazil. History The museum is housed in a 1900 building in Jardim da Luz, Downto ...
in São Paulo, Brazil. 3 March – 16 July 2018 * ''Hilma af Klint: Paintings for the Future'',
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the permanent home of a continuously exp ...
in New York, USA. 12 October 2018 – 23 April 2019 * ''Hilma af Klint: The Secret Paintings'',
Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most importa ...
, 12 June – 19 September 2021 * ''Hilma af Klint: The Secret Paintings'',
City Gallery Wellington City Gallery Te Whare Toi is a public art gallery in Wellington, New Zealand. History City Gallery Te Whare Toi began its life as the Wellington City Art Gallery on 23 September 1980 in a former office block located at 65 Victoria Street, now ...
, 4 December 2021 – 27 March 2022Chumko, A. (9 April 2022). Thousands visit Hilma af Klint exhibition during its four months at Wellington gallery. Stuff.Co.Nz. Retrieved 12 July 2022, from https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/arts/128265961/thousands-visit-hilma-af-klint-exhibition-during-its-four-months-at-wellington-gallery


Gallery

Hilma af Klint - 1907 - Altarpiece - No 1 - Group X - Altarpieces.jpg, ''Group X, No. 1, Altarpiece'', 1915 Hilma af Klint - Altarpiece No. 2 (13916).jpg, ''Group X, No. 2, Altarpiece'', 1915 Hilma af Klint - Group VI, Evolution No. 13 (13949).jpg, ''Evolution, No. 13, Group VI'', 1908 Hilma af Klint - Group IX UW No. 25, The Dove, No. 1 (13912).jpg, ''Group IX/UW, No. 25, The Dove, No. 1'', 1915 Hilma af Klint - Group IX SUW, The Swan No. 1 (13947).jpg, ''Group IX/SUW, The Swan, No. 1'', 1915 Hilma af Klint - Group IX SUW, The Swan No. 7 (13945).jpg, ''Group IX/SUW, The Swan, No. 7'', 1915 Group IX SUW, The Swan No. 9 by Hilma af Klint (13939).jpg, ''Group IX/SUW, The Swan, No. 9'', 1915 Hilma af Klint - Group IX SUW, The Swan No. 10 (13932).jpg, ''The Swan, No. 10, Group IX/SUW'', 1915 Hilma Af Klint - The Swan, No. 12, Group IX SUW, 1915 (13926).jpg, ''The Swan, No. 12, Group IX/SUW'', 1915 Hilma af Klint - 1915 - The Swan - No 16.jpg, ''The Swan, No. 16, Group IX/SUW'', 1915 Hilma Af Klint - 1915 - The Swan, No. 18.jpg, ''The Swan, No. 18, Group IX/SUW'', 1915 Hilma af Klint - Booklet 01.jpg, Notebook, 2–11 July 1919 Hilma af Klint - 1920 - Buddha's Standpoint in the Earthly Life - No 3a.jpg, ''Buddha's Standpoint in the Earthly Life, No. 3a, Series XI'', 1920


See also

* Hilma af Klint and Theosophy


Publications

* ''HILMA AF KLINT: Catalogue Raisonné,'' Bokförlaget Stolpe,Vol. I - VII, December 27, 2022, * ''The Spiritual in Art, Abstract Painting 1890-1985'', publ. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1986. LACMA : pbk * ''Hilma af Klint'', Raster Förlag, Stockholm. Swedish text, about 100 pictures. * ''Vägen till templet'', Rosengårdens Förlag. Swedish text, 30 sketches. Describes the teaching period to become a medium. * ''Enheten bortom mångfalden'', Rosengårdens Förlag. Swedish text, 32 pictures. Two parts, one philosophical and one art-scientific. * ''I describe the way and meanwhile I am proceeding along it'', Rosengårdens Förlag. A short introduction in English with 3 pictures. * ''3 X Abstraction'',
Catherine de Zegher Catherine de Zegher (born Marie-Catherine Alma Gladys de Zegher Groningen, April 14, 1955) is a Belgian curator and a modern and contemporary art historian. She has a degree in art history and archaeology from the University of Ghent. From 1988 t ...
and Hendel Teicher (eds.), Yale University Press and The Drawing Center, New York, 2005 * ''Okkultismus und Abstraktion, die Malerin Hilma af Klint'', Åke Fant, Albertina, Wien 1992, . * ''Mod Lyset – Belyj, Goethe, Hilma af Klint, Jeichau, Kandinsky, Martinus, Rosenkrantz, Steiner'' Gl. Holtegaard & Nordjyllands Kunstmuseum. 2004. * ''Hilma af Klint, the Greatness of Things'', John Hutchinson (ed.), Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin 2005. English text, 23 images. . * ''The Message. Art and Occultism. With an Essay by
André Breton André Robert Breton (; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') o ...
''. Hrsg. v. Claudia Dichter, Hans Günter Golinski, Michael Krajewski, Susanne Zander. Kunstmuseum Bochum. Walther König: Köln 2007, . * ''Swedish Women Artists: Sigrid Hjertén, Hilma af Klint, Nathalie Djurberg, Signe Hammarsten-Jansson, Aleksandra Mir, Ulrika Pasch'', Books LCC, 2010. * ''The Legacy of Hilma af Klint: Nine Contemporary Responses (English / German)'', Ann-Sofi Norin,
Daniel Birnbaum Daniel Birnbaum is a Swedish art curator and an art critic. Since 2019, he has been director and curator of Acute Art in London, UK. Education Birnbaum studied at Stockholm University, Freie Universität Berlin in Germany and Columbia Unive ...
, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 2013. * ''Hilma af Klint. The Art of Seeing the Invisible'', by Kurt Belfrage, Louise Almqvist (eds.), 2015 * ''Hilma af Klint – A Pioneer of Abstraction'', edited by Iris Müller-Westermann with Jo Widoff, with contributions by David Lomas, Pascal Rousseau and Helmut Zander, exhibition catalogue of Moderna Museet nr. 375, 2013. * ''Hilma af Klint – Painting the Unseen'', edited by Daniel Birnbaum and Emma Enderby, with contributions by
Julia Peyton-Jones Dame Julia Peyton-Jones (born 18 February 1952) is a British curator and gallery director, currently Senior Global Director at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in London, Paris and Salzburg. She formerly worked as Co-Director of the Serpentine Gallery in ...
,
Hans Ulrich Obrist Hans Ulrich Obrist (born 1968) is a Swiss art curator, critic, and historian of art. He is artistic director at the Serpentine Galleries, London. Obrist is the author of ''The Interview Project'', an extensive ongoing project of interviews. He is ...
,
Jennifer Higgie Jennifer Higgie is an Australian novelist, screenwriter, art critic and editor of the London-based contemporary arts magazine, ''Frieze''. The Australian band Falling Joys, whose lead singer is her sister Susie Higgie, released the song "Jennife ...
and
Julia Voss Julia Voss (born 1974) is a German journalist and scientific historian. She is a writer and art critic who works at the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung''.
. Serpentine Galleries / Koenig Books, 2016. * ''Hilma – en roman om gåtan Hilma af Klint''
ilma – a novel about the enigma Hilma af Klint ''Ilma'' is a genus of skippers in the family Hesperiidae Skippers are a family of the Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) named the Hesperiidae. Being diurnal, they are generally called butterflies. They were previously placed in a separat ...
Anna Laestadius Larsson, ed. Piratförlaget, 24 May 2017 * ''Hilma af Klint – Seeing is Believing'', Kurt Almqvist and Louise Belfrage, König Books, 7 October 2017 * ''Ni vues, Ni connues'' pp. 42–44, Collectif Georgette Sand, Publisher Hugo Doc collection Les Simone, 5 October 2017 * ''Hilma af Klint: Notes and Methods'', with an introduction and commentary by Iris Müller-Westerman, University of Chicago Press, 2018


References


External links

* * * * * *
Hilma af Klint Foundation
* (in Swedish with English subtitles, 22 minutes) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Klint, Hilma af 1862 births 1944 deaths People from Solna Municipality 19th-century Swedish painters 19th-century Christian mystics 20th-century Swedish painters 20th-century Christian mystics Christian occultists Abstract painters Swedish nobility Swedish Theosophists Anthroposophists Modern artists Drawing mediums Swedish women painters Swedish painters 20th-century Swedish women artists 20th-century Swedish artists 19th-century Swedish women artists 19th-century Swedish artists Road incident deaths in Sweden Burials at Galärvarvskyrkogården