On October 26th, we celebrate Hilma af Klint's birthday with a retrospective that explores the phases of af Klint’s life and the artworks that defined each period, drawing from her journey as an artist, mystic, and innovator.

Hilma af Klint (1862–1944) was a Swedish artist whose groundbreaking abstract works predate the abstract art movement, making her a pioneer in the field. Her art evolved through distinct stages, reflecting her spiritual curiosity, artistic training, and unique vision.

Early Life and Conventional Beginnings (1862–1900)

Born in Stockholm, Sweden, Hilma af Klint grew up in a well-to-do naval family with a strong interest in nature, mathematics, and art. She enrolled at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm at age 20, a rare achievement for a woman in the late 19th century. During this period, her work adhered to the academic traditions of the time. Her early pieces were conventional, grounded in realism, and influenced by her academic training. They demonstrated her ability to capture light, form, and texture but gave little hint of the radical departure to come. 

Spiritual Awakening and The Five (1900–1906)

In the early 1900s, af Klint’s interest in spirituality deepened, influenced by movements like Theosophy, Rosicrucianism, and Spiritualism. She joined a group of women called "The Five," who conducted séances to connect with spiritual entities they called the "High Masters." This period marked a shift from traditional art to explorations of the unseen. This phase was crucial, as it introduced af Klint to the idea of art as a medium for spiritual expression, laying the groundwork for her most iconic works.

The Paintings for the Temple (1906–1915)

The most transformative phase of af Klint’s career began in 1906 when she claimed to receive a spiritual commission to create The Paintings for the Temple, a series of works meant to convey universal truths. Working in near secrecy, she produced large-scale, vibrant abstract paintings that were unprecedented in their scope and ambition. Some examples:

The Ten Largest (1907): This series of ten monumental paintings, each around 10 feet tall, explores the stages of human life through swirling forms, bold colors, and symbolic motifs like spirals, circles, and dualities (e.g., male/female, light/dark). For example, No. 2, Childhood uses soft pastels and organic shapes to evoke beginnings, while No. 7, Adulthood is more structured, with geometric precision.

Primordial Chaos Series (1906–1907): These works feature dynamic compositions of spirals, waves, and cosmic imagery, blending scientific and spiritual symbolism. They mark her full embrace of abstraction.

The Swan and The Dove (1914–1915): Later Temple works, these series use symbolic animals to explore themes of transcendence and unity. The Swan No. 1 juxtaposes black and white forms to represent duality resolving into harmony.

Af Klint’s paintings were bold, colorful, and abstract, combining organic and geometric forms. She used symbols like spirals (growth), circles (unity), and contrasting colors to convey spiritual concepts. Her large-scale works were meant to envelop viewers, creating a meditative experience. This period cemented af Klint’s status as a visionary, producing over 190 works for the Temple series. She worked in isolation, believing her art was ahead of its time and not meant for immediate public display.

Later Years and Continued Exploration (1916–1944)

After completing The Paintings for the Temple, af Klint’s work became more introspective, and she continued to explore spiritual and philosophical themes. She traveled, studied anthroposophy (a philosophy founded by Rudolf Steiner), and produced smaller, more restrained works. She also began cataloging her oeuvre, concerned with preserving her legacy. Some examples:

Parsifal Series (1916): These smaller-scale works, inspired by Wagner’s opera and Steiner’s teachings, feature muted colors and geometric forms, reflecting a more analytical approach.

Altarpieces (1915): Part of the Temple series but completed later, these three large paintings (No. 1, Group X, Altarpieces) use a triangle motif to symbolize spiritual ascension, blending gold and pastel hues.

In her final decades, af Klint produced numerous watercolors and filled notebooks with sketches and writings. These works, like her late On the Viewing of Flowers and Trees series (1922), returned to nature-inspired themes but retained abstract elements.

Her later works were more subdued and precise, reflecting her study of anthroposophy and a desire to synthesize her earlier visions. She focused on smaller formats and detailed studies, moving away from the grand scale of the Temple series.

Af Klint stipulated that her abstract works not be shown until 20 years after her death, believing the world was not ready. She died in 1944, leaving behind over 1,200 paintings and 150 notebooks, largely unknown during her lifetime.

Legacy and Rediscovery

Hilma af Klint’s work remained obscure until the 1980s, when exhibitions like The Spiritual in Art (1986) at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art introduced her to a wider audience. Her 2018–2019 Guggenheim exhibition, Hilma af Klint: Paintings for the Future, was a blockbuster, cementing her as a pioneer of abstraction, predating artists like Wassily Kandinsky and Piet Mondrian. Today, af Klint is celebrated as a visionary who bridged art and spirituality, challenging the male-dominated narrative of abstract art’s origins. ilma af Klint’s journey from traditional painter to abstract mystic invites us to reconsider the boundaries of art. Her works, born from a deep connection to the unseen, continue to inspire and captivate, proving that true innovation often lies ahead of its time.