It’s good for any artist, beginner, experienced, realist or otherwise, to have a sense of the inspiring stories of men and women who believed in themselves enough to place painting at the center of their passions.
Right now, the little-known work of a mystical Swedish artist is changing the narrative of art history and redefining how we think about abstract art.
Abstraction (of the non-representational sort) was not originally intended to be about rule-breaking arrangements of colors, shapes, or geometric designs. The earliest non-representational paintings were anything but self-indulgent “paintings of nothing.”
The roots of fully abstract art were planted in the rich soil of poetic visions and daring ideas about the human soul and the nature of reality. Early twentieth-century Modernists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, and Kasimir Malevich thought non-representational painting could be a link to ideal realms and visionary states. And though it’s only now becoming widely known, Swedish artist Hilma af Klint (1862-1944) pioneered it first.
Hilma af Klint’s paintings at the Guggenheim in 2022.
Begun in 1909, Hilma af Klint’s abstract paintings preceded Kandinsky’s better-known abstractions by five or six years. With a major exhibition currently at London’s Tate Modern and recent shows in West Hollywood, Belgium, Stockholm, the David Zwirner Gallery and the Guggenheim Museum in New York, af Klint is currently one of most celebrated artists in the world.
Born in Stockholm, Hilma studied at the city’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts, graduating with honors in 1887. She established herself as a respected artist in Stockholm, exhibiting figurative paintings, taking technical illustration commissions, and serving briefly as secretary of the Association of Swedish Women Artists.
However, her real genius was to show itself in colorful, large-scale egg tempera paintings intended to reflect the realm of the spirits. They were the first abstract paintings in the world – and the world wasn’t ready. Hilma knew it, and she left provisions in her will to have all of her important work hidden away for at least two decades after she died.
Now, more than a century after she painted them, they’re being introduced to the art world to the astonishment and captivation of critics, historians, and art lovers everywhere.
A still from the biopic Hilma (2022)
No one had created paintings like hers before – so monumental in scale, with such radiant color combinations, enigmatic symbols and other-worldly shapes. In an era of limited creative freedom for women, Hilma af Klint’s paintings became an outlet for her exceptional intelligence, sincere spiritual quest, and ground-breaking artistic vision.
Only spiritually interested audiences had any knowledge of this body of work. Her attempts to exhibit these paintings, even to like-minded individuals, remained largely unsuccessful, and remarks in her notebooks indicate that she understood that the world was not quite ready for the message they were intended to communicate.
Hilma af Klint, “Group IV, The Ten Largest, No. 3, Youth,” from 1907. Photograph by Albin Dahlström.
The earliest Modernist abstractions didn’t resemble anything in our world because the artists weren’t using art to represent our world at all. Hilma and the artists who followed believed art could serve a higher purpose and be “religious” again in a stunning new way. Painting could be a mirror for that which, as Hilma wrote, “lies behind the forces of matter.”
Hilma af Klint
By letting go of the “things of this world,” painting could open a visual portal directly into the realm of mystical vision. “That is beautiful which is produced by the inner need, which springs from the soul,” Kandinsky famously wrote much later, in Concerning the Spiritual in Art (1935).
When she died in 1944, af Klint left more than 1,300 paintings and some 26,000 pages of writing.
A movie about her life titled Hilma came out in 2022. The film delves into her personality and relationships, her passion for art, her struggle against difficulties female artists faced at that time, and her higher calling to document a secret Spirit World in her art. It was preceded by a 2019 documentary called Beyond the Visible, which you can find and watch for free on Youtube.
Finding yourself as an artist is an essential part of the painting journey. Landscape artist Steve Curry has a video about discovering your unique strengths and calling while woriking in the landscape genre. It’s called Finding Your Voice: Painting with Creative Expression, and you can check it out here.
‘Believe in Yourself!’
Laurie Basham to Appear at Pastel Live 2023
Laurie Basham, Summer Flower Market, 12” x 9,” pastel
Pastel artist Laurie Basham will be demonstrating and teaching the importance of relating to your materials at this week’s Pastel Live.
“Belief in one’s creativity and skill is essential,” she says, “but until you take the chance to create something, you won’t have a chance to start building that belief. And a belief is just a thought you keep thinking. So if you are not making, not being creative, not taking that risk, there is no chance for that belief to grow.”
Look for a guest feature by Laurie on defeating imposter syndrome – coming to Inside Art soon!
Pastel Live (August 17-19) is an online event bringing together top artists and teachers for three days of instruction, demonstrations, exploration, inspiration and everything to do with pastels. Find out more and register here.
