Hilma af Klint

Hilma af Klint's journey as an artist began at the age of 18 when she enrolled at the Technical School in Stockholm, later known as Konstfack. Initially, her training focused on portrait painting, and in 1882 and 1887, she honed her skills further at the Art Academy in Stockholm. After completing her formal education, Hilma supported herself as a portrait and landscape painter, maintaining her studio at Hamngatan 5 in Stockholm.

However, Hilma af Klint's artistic path took a unique turn. As early as 1879, she delved into spiritualist séances, and alongside a group of like-minded women known as "The Five," who shared her interest in the occult, she regularly conducted séances to communicate with spiritual entities. During one such séance, Hilma received guidance from a spiritual being, instructing her to create mediumistic paintings. This marked the beginning of her journey into abstract art.

In 1906, Hilma af Klint painted her first series of 26 abstract artworks, which she continued throughout her life, except for a brief hiatus between 1908 and 1912. Her art was deeply influenced by spiritual dimensions, and she described herself as a medium channeling these creative forces.

In 1917, she established a new studio on Munsö, an island, and later moved there with her mother. Following her mother's passing in 1920, Hilma relocated to Helsingborg, accompanied by her mother's former nurse, Thomasine Andersson, who shared her interest in anthroposophy and became her life partner. They made annual visits to Dornach, Switzerland, between 1920 and 1930, where Hilma had the opportunity to reconnect with Rudolf Steiner, the founder of the Anthroposophical Society. However, Steiner declined to interpret Hilma's paintings.

Hilma af Klint's artwork reflects her spiritual journey, although it is challenging to discern direct influences from Rudolf Steiner's teachings in her work. Notably, other contemporary painters, such as Mari Strakosch-Giesler, exhibited more evident traces of anthroposophy in their art. Hilma's esoteric images possess a distinct, ultra-modern style.

In 1935, Hilma moved to Lund, and Thomasine Andersson passed away five years later. In 1944, she returned to the Stockholm area, residing with her cousin in Djursholm. Tragically, Hilma af Klint's life was cut short in 1944 at the age of almost 82 due to the aftermath of a traffic accident.

Throughout her artistic evolution, Hilma af Klint transitioned from a traditional artist to one of the pioneers of abstract art. Her work, characterized by its abstract and symbolic design language, drew inspiration from theosophy, Rosicrucian philosophy, and later anthroposophy. While she never exhibited her abstract art during her lifetime, her contributions to the art world are now celebrated and managed by the "Stiftelsen Hilma af Klints Verk," ensuring her legacy endures.

Around the age of 18, Klint began studying at the Technical School in Stockholm, later Konstfack, where she was trained in portrait painting. In 1882 and 1887 she studied at the Art Academy in Stockholm. After completing her studies, she supported herself as a portrait and landscape painter in her studio at Hamngatan 5 in Stockholm.

Already around 1879, she had participated in spiritualist séances and together with a group of women, who called themselves The Five, with an interest in the occult, she regularly conducted séances where the group kept a record of the messages they received. Hilma af Klint herself has described how, during one of these seances, a spiritual being explained to her that she should create mediumistic paintings. This resulted in her painting the first series of 26 abstract paintings in 1906. She continued this painting for the rest of her life, except for a short break between the years 1908 and 1912.

In 1917 she opened her new studio on Munsö and in 1918 she moved out to the island with her mother. After her mother died in 1920, she moved to Helsingborg together with her mother's former nurse Thomasine Andersson, also interested in anthroposophy and who became her life partner. They both stayed annually in Dornach in Switzerland between the years 1920 and 1930. There she met Rudolf Steiner again; they met for the first time in 1908 in Sweden. The Austrian Rudolf Steiner founded the Anthroposophical Society. Although Hilma af Klint was able to see the ceiling paintings Steiner himself executed in 1919 in Dornach, she did not allow herself to be influenced or ask for concrete advice for her own painting. However, she asked Steiner to interpret her paintings, which he did not want to do.

In her paintings it is difficult to detect any concrete influence of impulses from Rudolf Steiner. However, you can clearly see this in many other contemporary painters, for example Mari Strakosch-Giesler, a student of Wassily Kandinsky. Professor Dan Karlhom believes that you do Hilma af Klint an injustice by labeling her an anthroposophic painter or even just an abstract modernist. Her esoteric images have their own distinctive, rather ultra-modern, style.[3] In 1935 she moved to Lund and five years later Thomasine Andersson died. In 1944, Hilma af Klint moved back to the Stockholm area, where she lived with her cousin in Djursholm. Hilma af Klint died in 1944, almost 82 years old, in the aftermath of a traffic accident. Hilma af Klint was the granddaughter of Gustaf af Klint.[4] The painting and the breakthrough

After twenty years as a relatively traditional artist, Hilma af Klint began in 1906 to work with an abstract and symbolic design language based on inspiration from theosophy and Rosicrucian philosophy and later anthroposophy. Her abstract painting heralded artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian and Kazimir Malevich, but she never came into contact with the established abstract modernists on the continent.[5]

One of her more central works is the series Paintings to the Temple, or just the Temple, which she created in the years 1906-1915, and which consists of 193 paintings divided into a number of series.[5] Between 1906 and 1908 she created the first 111 paintings.[5] She described that in this creation she had been guided by a spiritual dimension and that she was only a medium. "The pictures were painted by me directly, without previous drawing and with great force. I had no idea what the pictures were going to convey and yet I worked quickly and surely without changing a brushstroke.”[5] She called this form of creation "mediumistic". Four years later, during the period 1912-1915, another 82 paintings were added to the series.[5]

From October 1914 to March 1915, she painted the Swan series, which consists of 24 more or less abstract paintings depicting the fight between a white and a black swan. After 1915 her painting shows a greater thematic variety and from 1920 to 1941 she painted mainly in watercolour.[5]

She created over 1,000 works, but she never exhibited her abstract paintings in public during her lifetime, as she did not believe that the contemporary age was ripe for understanding them. In her will she wrote that her life's work could not be shown until twenty years after her death, but it would take another twenty years before they were exhibited. During this period, only a few people knew of the paintings' existence. In 1970, the Moderna museum in Stockholm was offered her entire collection as a gift, but the museum declined.[6] During the 1980s, Åke Fant researched her art. Internationally, her art was first presented by Fant at the NORDIK conference in Helsinki in 1984. Two years later in 1986, the first exhibition of her abstract work, The Spiritual in Art, Abstract Painting 1890-1985, was shown in Los Angeles, with a catalog entry in English by Found. This exhibition became her international breakthrough.

Today her art is managed by the "Stiftelsen Hilma af Klints Verk".

Biografi

Kring 18-årsåldern började af Klint att studera vid Tekniska skolan i Stockholm, sedermera Konstfack, där hon utbildades i porträttmåleri. 1882 och 1887 studerade hon vid Konstakademien i Stockholm. Efter avslutade studier försörjde hon sig som porträtt- och landskapsmålare i sin ateljé på Hamngatan 5 i Stockholm.

Redan kring 1879 hade hon deltagit i spiritistiska seanser och tillsammans med en grupp kvinnor, som kallade sig för De fem, med intresse för det ockulta, genomförde hon regelbundet seanser där gruppen förde bok över vilka budskap de fick. Hilma af Klint har själv beskrivit hur, under en av dessa seanser, ett andligt väsen förklarade för henne att hon skulle skapa mediumistiska målningar. Detta resulterade i att hon 1906 målade den första serien med 26 abstrakta målningar. Hon fortsätter livet ut med detta måleri, förutom ett kort avbrott mellan åren 1908 och 1912.

1917 tog hon i bruk sin nya ateljé på Munsö och 1918 flyttade hon tillsammans med sin mor ut till ön. Efter att modern avled 1920, flyttade hon till Helsingborg tillsammans med moderns före detta sjuksköterska Thomasine Andersson, också intresserad av antroposofi och som kom att bli hennes livskamrat. De båda vistades årligen i Dornach i Schweiz mellan åren 1920 och 1930. Där träffade hon åter igen Rudolf Steiner; de möttes första gången 1908 i Sverige. Österrikaren Rudolf Steiner grundade Antroposofiska sällskapet. Trots att Hilma af Klint kunde se de takmålningar Steiner själv utfört 1919 i Dornach, lät hon sig inte påverkas eller be om konkreta råd för sitt eget måleri. Hon bad däremot Steiner att uttyda hennes målningar, vilket han inte ville göra.

I hennes målningar är det svårt att upptäcka något konkret inflytande av impulser från Rudolf Steiner. Det kan man däremot tydligt se hos många andra samtida målare, till exempel Mari Strakosch-Giesler, elev till Vasilij Kandinskij. Professor Dan Karlhom menar att man gör Hilma af Klint orätt genom att ge henne stämpeln som antroposofik målare eller ens bara som abstrakt modernistisk. Hennes esoteriska bilder har en egen särpräglad, snarare ultramodern, stil.[3] 1935 flyttade hon till Lund och fem år senare avled Thomasine Andersson. 1944 flyttade Hilma af Klint åter till Stockholmstrakten, där hon bodde tillsammans med sin kusin i Djursholm. Hilma af Klint avled 1944, nästan 82 år gammal, i sviterna av en trafikolycka. Hilma af Klint var sondotter till Gustaf af Klint.[4] Måleriet och genombrottet

Efter tjugo år som förhållandevis traditionell konstnär började Hilma af Klint 1906 att arbeta med ett abstrakt och symboliskt formspråk utifrån inspiration från teosofin och rosenkreuzfilosofin och senare antroposofin. Hennes abstrakta måleri förebådade konstnärer som Vasilij Kandinskij, Piet Mondrian och Kazimir Malevitj, men hon kom aldrig att ha någon kontakt med de etablerade abstrakta modernisterna på kontinenten.[5]

Ett av hennes mer centrala verk är serien Målningarna till templet, eller bara Templet, som hon skapade åren 1906-1915, och som består av 193 målningar uppdelade i ett antal serier.[5] Mellan 1906 och 1908 skapade hon de första 111 målningarna.[5] Hon beskrev att hon i detta skapande hade varit ledd av en andlig dimension och att hon bara var ett medium. ”Bilderna målades genom mig direkt, utan förgående teckning och med stor kraft. Jag hade ingen aning om vad bilderna skulle framställa och ändå arbetade jag fort och säkert utan att ändra ett penseldrag.”[5] Hon kallade denna form av skapande för "mediumistiskt". Fyra år senare, under perioden 1912-1915, tillkom ytterligare 82 målningar till serien.[5]

Från oktober 1914 till mars 1915 målade hon serien Svanen, som består av 24 mer eller mindre abstrakta målningar föreställande kampen mellan en vit och en svart svan. Efter 1915 uppvisar hennes måleri en större tematisk variation och från och med 1920 till 1941 målade hon främst i akvarell.[5]

Hon skapade över 1 000 verk, men hon visade aldrig under sin livstid upp sina abstrakta målningar offentligt, eftersom hon inte trodde att samtiden var mogen att förstå dem. I sitt testamente skrev hon att hennes livsverk inte fick visas förrän tjugo år efter hennes död, men det kom att ta ytterligare tjugo år, innan de ställdes ut. Under denna period var det bara ett fåtal personer som kändes till målningarnas existens. 1970 erbjöds Moderna museet i Stockholm hela hennes samling som gåva, men museet avböjde.[6] Under 1980-talet forskade Åke Fant om hennes konst. Internationell presenterade hennes konst första gången av Fant på NORDIK-konferensen i Helsingfors 1984. Två år senare 1986 visades den första utställningen med hennes abstrakta verk, The Spiritual in Art, Abstract Painting 1890-1985, i Los Angeles, med ett katalogbidrag på engelska av Fant. Denna utställning kom att bli hennes internationella genombrott.

Idag förvaltas hennes konst av "Stiftelsen Hilma af Klints Verk".

http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilma_af_Klint

https://www.modernamuseet.se/stockholm/en/exhibitions/hilma-af-klin...

http://www.hilmaafklintinberlin.de/index.php?id=1518

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ew3SQiFGR0

https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/hilma-af-klint