Botanical Watercolors

Hilma af Klint

Narrator: The artist’s interest in flowers and plants goes all the way back to her childhood, when Hilma af Klint spent time with her family on Adelsö on Lake Mälaren. At times she depicted plants with an almost photographic precision. Later she also produced diagram-like studies of the plants’ guidelines on the ethereal or transcendental plane. In several cases she gave the plants human characteristics, like moderation and simplicity.

Some of the spreads in her notebooks are full of vectors and diagrams, reflections and analyses, at first glance resembling the work of a mathematician or physicist. Hilma af Klint’s practice is marked by a decidedly scientific approach. Like many other theosophers, Hilma af Klint had a genuine interest in science. The natural sciences and spiritual exploration were not seen as opposites but rather complementary ways of gaining insight into the true nature of the universe.

During a stay at the anthroposophical centre Goetheanum in Switzerland in 1920, Hilma af Klint stopped painting geometrical compositions. Instead she portrayed the essence of plants in watercolours, allowing the colours to bleed into each other in the anthroposophical manner. Throughout her life she was receptive to re-evaluating her way of working in order to convey the messages from the universe in the best way possible.