Hilma af Klint – A Pioneer of Abstraction

Stockholm

Hilma af Klint (1862–1944) was a pioneer of abstract art who turned away from figurative painting as early as 1906. One hundred years ago, Hilma af Klint painted pictures for the future. Between 1906 and 1915, she produced nearly 200 abstract paintings, some of which are in monumental formats. Like Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944), Piet Mondrian (1872–1972), Kazimir Malevich (1878–1935) and František Kupka (1871–1957), who are still regarded as the main protagonists of abstract art in the beginning of the 20th century, Hilma af Klint was influenced by contemporary spiritual movements, such as spiritualism, theosophy and, later, anthroposophy. When she painted, she believed that a higher consciousness was speaking through her. In her works Hilma af Klint combines geometric shapes and symbols with the ornamental. Her multifaceted imagery strives to give insights into the different dimensions of existence, where microcosm and macrocosm reflect one another.

As such, Moderna Museet currently celebrates Hilma af Klint as a pioneer of abstract art and one of Sweden’s greatest artists, a woman artist whose groundbreaking works and radical imagery have remained largely unknown to this day.

Moderna Museet Stockholm

February 16 – May 26, 2013
Skeppsholmen
SE-103 27 Stockholm
Sweden

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