Hilma af Klint was born in 1862 in Solna, Sweden and died in 1944 in Djursholm, Sweden. Even though most people would not consider her a pioneer of abstraction, she is defiantly worthy of being one. What is amazing about her paintings is the fact that they were made in the 1900’s. The colours are wildly unique for its time and unusable generally for its time. Furthermore, the fat that these paintings were done by a female is huge. Hilma af Klint would have gone through various of obstacles being a female artist. The world had not been shaped; she would not have had the support that females have now. Why you may ask why has most not heard of Hilma af Klint? Because she stated in her will that nothing be shown until 20 years after her death. Unlike some known pioneers of art like Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, Kazimir Malevich, and Frantisek Kupka, Hilma af Klint did not exhibit her work. Hilma af Klint knew the world was not ready to understand what she was creating.
It is important to know that Hilma af Klint did not start off as a abstract painter. She started with portraiture and landscapes. She has done some beautiful landscapes in her time, being able to completely create what she saw. Klint has a solid art background on which to stand for creating these works of art. She studied at Normalskola for Flickor (General School for Girls), Tekniska Skolan (Technical Schools) and finally she attends the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. While Klint was at the Technical school she learned Portraiture. Women were not expected nor encouraged to create any thing “new”. Women back then were thought to be able to reproduce art but nothing more. Even though Hilma af Klint was probably creating ground breaking art for that time she would never be welcomed among the male dominating society of the art world. Which is another reason Klint never had a show in her lifetime.
Hilma af Klint was influenced by contemporary spiritual movements, such as; spiritism, theosophy, and then later anthroposophy. In her paintings she is trying to communicate other worldliness. Her paintings strive from different dimensions and existence. Hilma af Klint never did anything on its own she always worked in a series as there was always more to say.
Hilma af Klint surrounded herself with other female artist who named themselves “The Five”, the group would meet on Fridays or other days of the week to collaborate. Not only would the group share thoughts together and give eachother support in an unsupporting world because of their gender; The Five would hold Seances where they would try to reach other levels of consciousness. Other group members junals would later discribe Hilma af Klint as a medium for the group. Hilma af Klint states in one of her jounals that she was being commissioned from the astral plane to create works of art to communicate to man.
What moved Hilma af Klint into the direction of abstraction and away from the traditional art? Cause we know for sure it was not her teachers. It was the deather of Hilma af Klints younger sister Hermina Klint. Hermina’s death stirred up interest in religion and spiritualism.
In Hilma af Klints paintings she holds nothing back. She creates amazing works of art even though she knew her paintings would not be appreciated during her time. which is why she left her art to the future, and the future is now. Hilma af Klint created works that comment on today’s world, a world not yet visible in her time.
