Hilma af Klint(1862-1944)

Hilma af Klint (1862-1944) is one of Sweden’s most esteemed artists. Today she is celebrated all over the world.

Born in Stockholm, Hilma af Klint studied at the city’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts, graduating with honours in 1887. She established herself as a respected artist in Stockholm, exhibiting figurative paintings and serving briefly as secretary of the Association of Swedish Women Artists. Already at a young age she became involved in spiritualism. Later followed a keen interest in the ideas of Rosicrucianism, Theosophy and Anthroposophy. These modes of spiritual engagement were part of the zeitgeist and popular across Europe – especially in artistic and literary circles – as people sought to reconcile religious beliefs with scientific advances and a new awareness of the plurality of religions.

Af Klint’s conventional paintings became the source of financial income, but what she refers to as the “great work”, realised during her life, remained a separate activity. Only spiritually interested audiences had any knowledge of this body of works. Her attempts to exhibit these paintings to like-minded individuals remained largely unsuccessful and remarks in her notebooks indicate that she felt that the world was not quite ready for the message they were intended to communicate.