Hilma af Klint

Independent, dignified and strong-willed, she walked her charted path through life with an assured gait … She made great demands on herself, conscious of the fact that she bore within her powerful spiritual forces, which shaped her life and suited her to higher tasks.
— Erik af Klint, the artist’s nephew

Born in Stockholm, Sweden to a prominent naval family, Hilma af Klint began training as an artist when she was 17 – first at Stockholm’s Technical School and then at the Swedish Royal Academy of Fine Arts as one of the first female students. In the following years she earned a living, and a good reputation, as a traditional portrait and landscape painter.

However, like many artists and scientists at the end of the 19th century, af Klint was fascinated with the existence of phenomena that couldn’t be directly perceived. This led her to pursue a more experimental pathway as an artist, one deeply engaged with spiritualism, scientific enquiry and the natural world.

Though af Klint was exposed to European avant-garde art, and is now regarded as a pioneer of abstract painting, she thought of her art in a spiritualist context. Unlike the early modern art movements, many spiritualist groups were led by women, creating an environment in which af Klint could courageously embark upon an art practice of vision and ambition.