Exhibition Opening - Hilma af Klint "The Secret Paintings" at NSW

Hilma af Klint “The Secret Paintings”
Art Gallery of NSW – Until Sep 19, 2021 Sydney (Australia)

The rediscovery of the “secret paintings” by Swedish artist Hilma af Klint. Preserved and little known for decades, has taken the international art world by storm. Now his remarkable work arrives in Australia in the first preview of af Klint’s work to be shown in the Asia-Pacific region.

No one had ever created paintings like hers before. On such a monumental scale, with dazzling color combinations. Enigmatic symbols and shapes from another world. In an era of limited creative freedom for women, her paintings became an outlet for her exceptional intelligence. His spiritual quest and his revolutionary artistic vision.

Secret for at least 20 years.

Believing that viewers in her day weren’t ready for what she created, af Klint left instructions that her work should be kept a secret for at least 20 years after her death in 1944. It wasn’t until ‘in 2013 that the first retrospective of her work at the museum took place at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm.

Hilma af Klint: The Secret Paintings presents The Ten Largest (1907) – her famous series of paintings. Each over 3 meters tall – part of the cycle of work she considered the most important. The Paintings for the Temple (1906-1915).

The exhibition also highlights his early botanical studies. Experimental drawings made with the spiritualist group The Five. Also, a large selection of abstract watercolors, many of which have never been exhibited to the public before. A selection of af Klint’s notebooks provide a fascinating insight into his influences and processes.