Hilma af Klint was a pioneering artist of abstraction who created a body of work that was far ahead of its time. She was a Swedish artist who was active in the early 20th century and is now widely recognized as one of the
Hilma af Klint was a Swedish artist and mystic whose paintings are considered to be among the first major abstract works in Western art history. A considerable body of her work predates the first purely abstract compositions by Kandinsky, Malevich, and Mondrian. She belonged to a group called "The Five", a circle of women inspired by Theosophy who shared a belief in the importance of trying to contact the "High Masters", often through séances. Her paintings, which sometimes resemble diagrams, were a visual representation of complex spiritual ideas.