Hilma af Klint
Hej, Sverige! Today is a great day ... we are launching a Swedish-language version of DailyArt! If you're interested, you can change your language version in the app settings. If you don't see it, don't forget to download the latest version of the app from the App Store and Google Play!
So it's a perfect time to feature one of the most famous Swedish artists, right?
A pioneering figure in Abstract art, Hilma af Klint created esoteric, spiritually inspired works that, despite being conceived well before those of Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, and Piet Mondrian, only found a broad audience in the 21st century. Born in Stockholm and trained at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts, af Klint developed her singular visual language privately, ensuring her paintings would remain unseen until after her death. Often monumental in scale, as seen in the sweeping series The Ten Largest, af Klint’s paintings interweave biomorphic and geometric motifs to convey her profound belief in an invisible but deeply resonant spiritual realm. Today, we present one piece of The Ten Largest, which Klint intended to hang together as a “beautiful wall covering.”
These paintings represent the various stages of human life, beginning with childhood, moving through adulthood, and culminating in old age. They draw on imagery inspired by organic forms—plants, creatures, and objects from the natural world—and thus feature representational elements. Yet, they also venture into the realm of the fantastical. In her notebook, af Klint recorded: “Ten paradisiacal paintings were to be executed; the colors would be instructive, revealing my feelings to me in a measured way…."
Beautiful, isn't it?
P.S. The Ten Largest was Hilma af Klint's life's work. See other paintings of this fascinating series!