Exploring the occult underpinnings of af Klint's art, from theosophy to Rosicrucianism, from new research on her voluminous diaries
When Swedish painter Hilma af Klint (1862-1944) bequeathed the entirety of her work to her nephew Erik af Klint, she told him that all of her pieces carry within them a deeply complex philosophy of life. "Everything should be done to bring this hidden message to light," she urged him. The artist left behind 1,600 works, 124 of which are her personal notebooks with a total of 26,000 pages that provide extensive insight into the artist's private thoughts, creative process and her intentions for the future curation of her art. For the first time, all of these diaries have been combed through in the quest for the philosophy of life contained within her work, and to identify what, as Erik af Klint writes, his aunt's "spiritual masters intended" with such a message. Hilma af Klint called the notebooks "educational material," and they are the key to understanding her paintings. This volume touches upon ideas from Spiritualism, Theosophy and Anthroposophy, and addresses elements of the 17th-century spiritual beliefs of Rosicrucianism, a movement that held particular influence over af Klint's life and work as she strove to achieve what she called the "mystery knowledge" of the world beyond the known.