aesthesia

Hilma af Klint (Swedish, 1862-1944)

The Tail of the Swan, 1914

The Swan (No. 17), 1914-15

Hilma af Klint’s paintings are diagrams of a spiritual plane that underlies the visual world. She was a member of a small group of women who would meet to access religious spirits with knowledge of the afterlife.

Gregor, one of the spiritual masters she contacted during these meetings, said to her that the paintings represent “All the knowledge that is not of the senses, not of the intellect, not of the heart but is the property that exclusively belongs to the deepest aspect of your being […] the knowledge of your spirit.”

Hilma af Klint, along with Frantisek Kupka and Wassily Kandinsky, was among the first European artists to create abstract paintings. She wanted to keep her paintings secret from the public until 20 years after her death.