Hilma Af Klint - Taschen Basic Art Series

Beskrivelse

Hilma af Klint created art that seemed to channel cosmic forces. Starting with landscapes and portraits, her curiosity about spirituality and unseen energies soon took center stage in her work.

An artist whose spiritual practice and abstract vision were far ahead of her time.

From a young age, Hilma af Klint was captivated by botany and mathematics, which influenced her early paintings of natural scenes and people. But deeper questions about spirit, invisible energies, and vast patterns beyond the eye’s reach began to dominate her creative journey.

Her art was deeply intertwined with her spiritual beliefs. Alongside a group of female artists known as The Five, she participated in séances and received messages from so-called "High Masters." She drew inspiration from the Theosophical Society and Rudolf Steiner’s teachings, dedicating herself to exploring and illustrating life’s hidden dimensions. So intense was her work that she often painted until physically exhausted.

By 1906, her canvases were filled with glowing geometric shapes like spirals and orbs, embedded with symbols, letters, and words. These works anticipated the rise of abstract art by pioneers such as Kandinsky, Malevich, and Mondrian. Many of her large series, including pieces created for the Temple and The Ten Largest, explored themes of duality, inner versus outer, earthly versus spiritual, masculine versus feminine, and good versus evil.

Af Klint’s lifestyle was unconventional for her era: she was a vegetarian and challenged traditional notions of gender. Despite being ahead of her time, her groundbreaking work remained largely unrecognized during her life, hidden away by her own instructions for decades. It wasn’t until the 1980s that her role as a true trailblazer in abstract art began to be acknowledged.

This book offers a window into Hilma af Klint’s visionary world, showcasing a radiant selection of her artworks alongside an insightful essay that unpacks their rich complexity. Her once-secret universe is beautifully brought to light for a new generation to discover.

Yderligere information