Hilma af Klint

Hilma af Klint was creating abstract art long before the abstract movement in 1940s. She may have even been the first person to ever explore abstract art. Despite this work being made as early as 1906, no one had ever seen it until af Klint's first solo exhibition in the 1980s. She died in 1944. 

Group IV, no 2. The Ten Largest, Youth, 1907
https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-swedish-mystic-hilma-af-klint-invented-abstract-art

Her work is so unlike anyone else's, especially for her time period. She had studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm, acquiring classical training such as painting landscapes and self-portraits. She created a group with four other women in the 1890s, named The Five. They met regularly and had séances where they attempted to communicate with spirits. During one of af Klint's experiences, she received a "commission" from a higher being to paint her abstracts. All of her work is spiritual and devoted to these higher beings that she connected with. She believed it was her duty to convey these messages to others.  

Primordial Chaos, No. 16, 1906-07
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilma_af_Klint

Throughout 1907, she created 10 huge pieces, each at least 10 feet tall. Each consist of bright, pastel colors, with 2-dimensional interlocking shapes that resemble botanicals, spirals, and astronomy. Her use of color is extraordinary, using colors that compliment and balance one another. She makes use of analogous colors within certain shapes to create harmony and then throws in complimentary colors to create contrast. Each painting is different, some are more focused on cool colors, some are more on the warm side. The shapes and lines give her pieces rhythm, moving the eye through the piece, especially in her spiral pieces. To me, it is unbelievable how she was able to paint so large, and yet still be able to perfectly place shapes and other elements in places that create total harmony within the piece. I imagine that she had the entire picture in her head before she made it. 

Exhibition at Guggenheim
https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/hilma-af-klint

Hilma af Klint was totally ahead of her time (by almost 50 years). One would think they were made more recently than they actually were. She was creating modern art long before the  movement even started. She broke from the traditional ways of art and started creating art that came from herself, total self-expression. She wrote that she did not want her work to be exhibited until 20 years after her death because the world was not ready. Perhaps she was right. Even still, in 2020 I had never heard of her or seen any of her work in any art history class that I have taken. Af Klint deserves more recognition and credit as being one of the pioneers of abstract art.

The pictures were painted directly through me, without any preliminary drawings, and with great force. I had no idea what the paintings were supposed to depict; nevertheless I worked swiftly and surely, without changing a single brush stroke.