Hilma af Klint’s Botanical Drawings Probe Spiritualism and the Unknown

In 2018, the once obscure and overlooked Swedish artist Hilma af Klint (1862–1944) was catapulted into the limelight with the blockbuster retrospective “Paintings for the Future” at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. What followed was an avalanche of critical reappraisals and masses of new devotees of her work, in no small part buoyed by recent threats made by her decedents to lock away her work from public view, reserving it exclusively for “spiritual seekers.”

For those who count themselves among the artist’s followers and fans, the freshly opened “Hilma af Klint: What Stands Behind the Flowers” at MoMA offers an incisive look at the artist’s botanical work that also provides insight into her spiritual and artistic evolution. Organized by Senior Curator Jodi Hauptman, with contributions from the curatorial team and in collaboration with the Hilma af Klint Foundation, the exhibition presents a portfolio of 46 botanical drawings—shown together for the first time—alongside newly discovered studies.

Taking an overarching focus on the years 1917 to 1922, the show opens with works dated from 1917, a year which heralded a new chapter in af Klint’s practice wherein she consciously pivoted away from the purely spiritual explorations guided by “divine messengers” she had dedicated herself to over the preceding decade, and instead toward the natural world and self-directed studies centered on visual observation.

Looking to the diverse world of Sweden’s flora and fauna, the show opens with pieces from her “Atom” series (1917)—one of several important loans from the Hilma af Klint Foundation, Stockholm—which echo the geometry of her earlier large-scale abstractions. The series illustrates her concerted effort to reconcile or bridge her studies and observations of the formal and spiritual aspects of her work with the natural world around her.

What followed was the “Nature Studies” portfolio, part of MoMA’s permanent collection, made between the spring and summer of 1919 and 1920. All 46 entries of the portfolio are on view in “What Stands Behind the Flowers,” and reveal not only her skill with rendering various plants and flowers in extreme detail, but the intriguing ways her prior, spiritually driven practice lingered on.

In pieces such as or Prunus padus (European Bird Cherry), Prunus avium (Sweet Cherry), Prunus cerasus (Sour Cherry), Prunus domestica (European Plum), small but distinctive abstract “riktlinier,” what could be translated as “diagrams” or “guidelines,” in the shape of spirals, targets, or chevrons allude to another dimension of af Klint’s creative pursuit, one that reflected a state of consciousness or perception from the point of view of her subject based on her own close observation of the specimen.

These observations are included in short descriptions on the sheets themselves, (e.g., “Innocence,” “Silence,” “Strength” next to the Lily of the Valley, “Physical strength is a necessary asset. The body is dependent on the etheric body,” next to the Tulip) which she later transferred to a collection of notebooks, also on view in a vitrine toward the center of the show.

Together, the illustrations and notebooks compose a type of botanical atlas, one where nature and spirit are explored without hierarchy. A quote from the artist displayed in the show by af Klint states, “I have shown that there is a connection between the plant world and the world of the soul.”

Complementing the display of the “Nature Studies” portfolio is a suite of seven drawings of various mushroom species that were commissioned by M. A. Lindblad, a Swedish mycologist. Previously unknown, they were found in the archives of the Swedish Museum of Natural History by Dr. Lena Struwe, the director of the Chrysler Herbarium at Rutgers University and a contributor to the exhibition’s accompanying catalogue and Dr. Johannes Lundberg, a curator at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in the Department of Botany, the latter of whom first identified the grouping. As part of the present show’s research, Laura Neufeld, an associate conservator at MoMA, undertook a technical analysis of the works—the first ever of its kind conducted on af Klint’s works on paper.

The last section of the exhibition shows a veer back toward abstraction and away from the intricate reproductions of natural specimens and a refreshed approach to abstraction, one informed by af Klint’s then-recent dedication to the botanical works. Part of the series “On the Viewing of Flowers and Trees” (1922), these works feature a wet-on-wet method of watercolor painting, allowing for an intensity and depth of color not easily achieved in other mediums. The compositions from this series hold space for visual, emotional interpretation; the transmutation of the sun’s light as it reaches the core of a birch tree, a type of floral aura reading, or perhaps something more incorporeal, such as an attempt to realize through visual means the point of contact between spirit and an element of nature.

Ultimately, “What Stands Behind the Flowers” is a jewel box exhibition that presents a closer and more nuanced look at the intricacies of af Klint’s practice as well as the lines of critical inquiry she returned to time and again over the course of her career. As a historical artist who has garnered an unprecedented level of fame and recognition well after her death, and on the heels of several major international solos (and more slated to come), the exhibition reflects an art-historically significant depth to her oeuvre and an intriguing—and seemingly growing—resonance with contemporary audiences.

“While we often think of artists of the early 20th century as focused on new technologies—the hustle and bustle of modern life—for many, the natural world was a crucial touchstone,” Hauptman commented. “MoMA’s ‘Nature Studies’ reveal af Klint as an artist uniquely attuned to nature. We hope that attunement—her demonstration of careful observation and discovery of all that stands behind the flowers—encourages our audience to look closely and see their own surroundings, whether here in the city or beyond, in new ways.”

Source: Exhibition - news.artnet.com