Follower of Hilma af Klint: Abstract Composition (blue and white circle)

Follower of Hilma af Klint (Swedish 1862-1944) Attributed: Abstract Composition (blue and white circle), Oil on Canvas, unsigned, framed.

Hilma af Klint was one of, if not the, earliest and most influential abstract painters. Stemming from her younger sister’s death in 1880, Klint had a lifelong interest in spirituality and mysticism, a reoccurring theme in her work. In particular, Klint was inspired by the Theosophical Movement, an occultist form of thinking that draws on ideas from older European philosophies and Asian religions that believed in “High Masters”, deceased, enlightened spirits who were to revive an ancient mystical religion that would eclipse all other religions. From early in her career, Klint alleged that her set of Temple Paintings, a suite of 193 paintings painted between 1906 and 1915 that were inspired by a conversation with a “High Master”, was made with intervention with these spirits. However, once these paintings were completed, the spirits no longer intervened in her art and the roots of her abstract expressionist career began.

This work draws on af Klint's views towards the spiritual nature of abstract art. Rather than rendering figurative objects, early abstract painters sought to create abstract forms that would transcend the physical world and lead them towards a spiritual reality.