Threats, extortion and legal fights. Much ado about Hilma af Klint

You may not have noticed, because not everyone speaks and reads Swedish, but beware: soon you may never be able to see Hilma af Klint's work in public again, as recently reported by Dagens Nyheter. According to the foundation that manages the work, you can only gain access if you are demonstrably Christian (so not Muslim or Hindu, imagine), 'strive for spiritual knowledge' or 'support Hilma af Klint's mission'. The foundation determines whether you are 'suitable'. That sounds quite sectarian.

What was Hilma's mission actually? At the end of her life, Hilma was offered the opportunity to have the work preserved in one of the most important Swedish cloisters (Christian, that is), but she refused. Hilma fiercely defended the work as being inspired by Theosophy and later Anthroposophy. Now, if there is one movement that opposed the dominance of Christianity and simultaneously is religiously inclusive by definition, it is Theosophy! The artistic work itself consists of an amalgam of religious, spiritual and pagan elements from all world religions and all times. Part of the world-wide success of the work lies in its appeal to present religious inclusivity.

Nevertheless, the chairman of the foundation, family member Erik af Klint, says that he strictly adheres to the statutes of the Foundation. According to him, the work is not art, it is a message from the spiritual world, whispered in Hilma's ear by her ‘master’ (a Theosophical concept, by the way). The work is therefore no longer lent to exhibitions because ‘if religion comes into a museum, it is dead’. That is a strange concept, because much art is related to religion, in one way or another. It is also not true that the exhibitions are halted, because the foundation's website shows 6 exhibitions this year. The barrage of popular merchandise, including the auction of 193 NFTs of the work in 2023, seems to be a blatant violation of the statutes as well. The desire to sell some of the foundation's work to maintain the collection even so.

In order to finally put a stop to this vulgar commercialism, Erik has now, after a few previous failed attempts at lower authorities, filed a lawsuit with the Stockholm Court of Justice. Either he gets out, or all other board members get out. Preferably the latter, of course.

Now Erik runs into a problem here. Several even. And he is not the only one. By statute, the board of the foundation must consist of a majority of Anthroposophists (why, that is another matter altogether). And these Anthroposophists, affiliated with the Anthroposophical Society in Järna and the Ax:son Johnson Foundation that sponsored many of the activities around Hilma, are now the victims of an actual smear campaign, threats, extortion and intrusions into buildings. People have even had to hire personal security detail. It is almost criminal. Hilma's 'master' certainly would not have whispered that into her ears. 

The chance that Erik will win the lawsuit seems small to me. A foundation has a democratic structure, not an authoritarian one according to the rules of the nobility to which Erik belongs. But apart from this administrative hassle, the current squabble does not touch on the core of a decades-long issue.

The foundation, established in 1972 on the statutes mentioned, is itself the cause of the mercantilism surrounding the work. In 1986, Hilma was presented with great fanfare in the exhibition The Spiritual in Art as the artistic discovery of the century. The foundation has therefore presented the work as art. The exhibition in the Guggenheim Museum in New York (2019) sealed Hilma's entry into the pantheon of artistic pioneers. The merchandise, generated by the foundation itself, was and still is in great demand.

But – and this is the core question – is the work really by Hilma? Over many years, I, as an art historian with a considerable international track record on thorough research, have been hammering away at the essential problems surrounding this glorification of Hilma and ‘her’ work. My first blog dates from 2013. I have written several books and scholarly essays: one on Hilma's first exhibition in 1913, an iconographical analysis of the first painting of The Ten Greatest, and on the myth of the early relationship between Hilma and Rudolf Steiner. All these publications raise the fundamental issue of attribution of works to Hilma and false interpretations of iconographical elements in the works.

In modern terms: the myth of Hilma af Klint is the result of a decades-long disinformation campaign by the foundation, which not only produced exhibitions but also research and publications – and said merchandise – that were not allowed to deviate from that myth. As a private foundation you have the right to determine your own course, but as soon as you explicitly strive to enter the public domain with its own set of rules, there are responsibilities involved. One of them is open discourse.  

To this day, it has not been established, on the basis of hard facts and according to the most elementary and common art historical research methods, which work was actually made by Hilma herself. Hilma was a member of De Fem, a collective of creative women. Among them, not in the least, Anna Cassel, Hilma’s lifelong friend, artistic partner and private sponsor. When will it be, finally, time for this elementary research to take place? The work of every artist, especially one of international stature, is and should be scrutinized through the same art historical magnifying glass. Authentication makes or breaks a work and a reputation. That also applies in this case. 

Does Erik af Klint secretly want to prevent this research by closing the collection and classifying the work as sectarian? Research costs a lot of money, there is a reputation at stake, and prestige, and wealth. Or the loss of it. The consequence of this research could be that (part of) the work is not by Hilma at all – which I expect. You see the value plummet before your eyes. Selling work as ‘a Hilma’ can result in fraudulent conduct. That is a criminal offence and an mortal sin in the art world. Removing the work from the exhibition circuit does not solve all those problems. The current call for the Swedish State to become the guarantor of the work is just as tricky when its authenticity has not been established. Another consequence is that the foundation unlawfully prevents access to work by other artists from the group, which forms part of the current, not even fully inventoried collection. That could lead to a new round of legal proceedings. 

The Hilma af Klint Foundation has a very, very big problem. As Ollie Hardy repeatedly exclaimed to Stan Laurel, "Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into."

Hilma Af Klint & Piet Mondriaan exhibition: integrity, myth and money

From October 7 Hilma Af Klint will gloriously return to the Kunstmuseum in The Hague. In 1986, now 37 years ago, Af Klint rose to international fame as the discovery of the century in the American travelling exhibition The Spiritual in Art: Abstract Painting 1895-1985, of which The Hague was the last venue. In 2018, Af Klint’s international acclaim as the pioneer of Swedish abstract art was sealed at the Guggenheim Museum. Af Klint’s work has acquired cultish dimensions. People swoon before her work. Researchers and critics regard themselves as channeled by the artist. 

So, nothing wrong with this new exhibition, is there? False: everything is wrong about this exhibition. Literally everything. 

Anna Cassel & Hilma af Klint. Childhood 1907. Vision of a new Swedish Christian identity

 In December 1907 Hilma af Klint and the group De Fem finished the of a series of ten paintings, called De tio största (The Ten Largest). This series is said to depict the evolution of human life from birth to old age. The series makes an indelible impression, if only because of the size of the works: they are twice the height of the average human being. The paintings are also extremely rich in iconographical details: an abundance of floral motives, arabesque-like script and geometric shapes.

The iconographical richness of the series defies any simple explanation. Descriptions in literature are, possibly because of it, mainly highly descriptive in character, and when inspirational sources are mentioned, they are interpreted in the way Hilma af Klint’s fame rose from the late 1980’s: late 19^th and early 20^th century Occultism: Theosophy and Anthroposophy.

But if that is true remains much to be seen. Why do all the analyses fall short of a thorough interpretation based on the iconography itself, on the ideas of the painter(s) and on the setting in which the works originated?

Hilma was part of the women’s group De Fem, consisting of five members: Sigrid Hedman, the medium; Mathilda Nilsson, publisher and main psychographer; and three painters: Anna Cassel, Hilma af Klint and Cornelia Cederberg, who all knew each other from their training at the School of Decorative Arts and the Royal Academy. This group, a subdivision of the Edelweissförbundet, had a specific mission: to produce paintings for a “temple.”

Of the proceedings seven notebooks exist: five made during sessions of De Fem, and two separate ones by Anna Cassel and Hilma af Klint. These last notebooks in fact are extracts of the now destroyed 28 (sic) original notebooks. Hilma made these extracts shortly after 1927, and annotated them another time in 1934. Thus the two existing notebooks contain only a sliver of the original ones. Not only that. By piecing together the information of all of the seven notebooks it becomes clear that Hilma deliberately twisted history to her advantage when all of her colleagues had died. She describes her role in the group as the superior one, as the genius behind the work. Also she superimposes her later Occult worldview on work that was made around 1906-1908. None of this is historically correct.   

The first of The Ten Largest, Childhood, is a perfect study object to delve deeper into the real events and contemporary context. A minute analysis of the mission of the group and the iconographical breakdown of all of the elements of the painting have resulted in a stunning picture of the circumstances and of the reasons why the specific pictorial elements were chosen. The genius behind the work – in fact of the whole concept of all of the series – is Anna Cassel, who solely received the assignment from the spirits through Sigrid Hedman to create a vision based on “the saga’s:” “… not written by human hand but carved into the finest matter of human life. For this you must know: for he who [has] eyes to see with, there is a living writing in space, a diary of the changing destinies of the world, of the many lives of the individual.”

The analysis of Childhood provides an array of the predictable impulses that Anna has worked into the painting. Among them are Christian Spiritualism and Pietism (the religious orientation of De Fem and the Edelweissförbundet), Norse folklore, archeology and rune culture, all in the context of Swedish National Romanticism. The theme of the series has nothing to do with the natural progression of a human life. It symbolizes the birth and development of the modern Christian identity of the young, newly formed Swedish State in 1905.

The book is available HERE.

The exhibition of Anna Cassel and Hilma af Klint. Stockholm 1913

In 2013 and 2017 I wrote several blogs on the art of Hilma af Klint, in which I pointed out that research had only started, and that art production can never be separated from the impulses an artist gets from his/her social surroundings: people, ideas, political circumstances, literature, work of other artists, just to name a few sources. Since that time more literature on Hilma af Klint has been published, but alas: much of my objections to the way she is pictured as the ‘lone Swedish genius of abstraction’ still stand.

It all comes down to basic research. Of primary sources. Of contemporary sources. Of contemporary literature, especially when it comes to interpretation of iconography of 'occult' art. As in all research facts need to lead the way. Facts need to be amassed from many different sources. Time-consuming, yes. Illuminating, yes. Facts can end up painting a totally different picture than what has been reported in history. It is very important, for instance, to check the information in ‘autobiographical’ reports against information from other sources, before this information solidifies into a fixed image. Do the facts correspond? If not, why not? For which reasons were facts distorted, left out, inflated?

Hilma af Klint is said to have first exhibited her ‘occult’ art in 1928 in London, at the occasion of an Anthroposophical conference. She and her art were labeled as ‘Rosicrucian’. Understandably: from 1907 the president of the Anthroposophical Society, Rudolf Steiner, had coined his Theosophy as ‘modern Rosicrucianism’. Hilma had become a true fan of Steiner. So that fits, doesn’t it? In 1932 she wrote that she was unhappy about her reception, that people didn’t understand her art and thought it best to have her work behinds lids for the next twenty years.

The 1928 exhibition however was not her first. Fifteen years earlier Hilma and her life-long friend and financial, emotional and artistic pillar-behind-the-scenes Anna Cassel were part of the exhibition organized by the European Confederation of the Theosophical Society, which was held in Stockholm in 1913. When I wrote down these facts in 1990 while researching the 1904 Theosophical exhibition which was held in Amsterdam to prepare my dissertation, I could never have envisaged that my notes would become important. But well, that is what researchers do: hoarding information for you-never-know-when.

The analysis of the Theosophical Stockholm exhibition has led to surprising discoveries. The exhibition itself had a completely different character than the previous exhibitions of the European Confederation in other European cities. The analysis of the group of artists also provides essential corrections on the work of Hilma af Klint, but not only of hers. Of Anna Cassel as well. Of the groups in which they operated. All women named in the séance notebooks of the group De Fem and other groups, of which both artists were a member, have been identified and have been given a face. All of these women are immensely meaningful for the socioeconomic, spiritual and artistic influences they had on the artists.

The 1913 exhibition functions as a starting point for a more elaborate discussion of the type of exhibited works and the consequences for the interpretation of themes; the ideological backgrounds of the work and shifts in orientation; the networks in which the artists operated and which have influenced them; and the reception history of Hilma af Klint, which has incorrectly determined and influenced the interpretation of the work and of the group.

The book can be ordered here.

Hilma af Klint revisited. Part I. The Theosophical Society in Sweden

As a researcher I am inclined to return to subjects which have seen no satisfactory conclusion. These open ends keep nagging me and force me to revise the facts and search for new ones. Such is the case with Hilma af Klint. I wrote about her a couple of years ago, questioning some biographical facts of her life, her position within the group of The Five and her art production. Four of the women of The Five, all members of the Stockholm Lodge of the Theosophical Society, are supposed to have merely served the impressive output on esoteric art which made Hilma af Klint famous.

In this blog, cut into three parts, I want to present alternative views.

Hilma af Klint revisited. Part II: The Edelweissförbundet and The Five

The Five was not, by any means, a product of five women after they joined forces in the Stockholm Lodge of the TS. The history of The Five starts solidly, and about 10 years earlier, within a completely different group, the Edelweissförbundet (Edelweiss Society). This society has been mentioned in Af Klint’s biography, but only fleetingly, in a sort of names-dropping way. But this society and its aims have shaped course and contents of the later activities of The Five in the most essential manner.

The Edelweissförbundet was founded in December 1888. This is, in fact, parallel to the founding of the branch of the TS in Stockholm. And this must be the date which has mistakenly be identified as the date in which Hilma af Klint joined the Theosophical Society.

Hilma af Klint revisited. Part III: Anna Cassel, Hilma's 'other half'

So this time I want to draw Anna Cassel into the limelight. Anna has frequently been mentioned only as as Hilma’s life-long friend and artist-colleague, but again, only fleetingly. From 1882-1887 they attended the Stockholm academy Anna from 1880, Hilma from 1882 onwards. One of their teachers was Count Georg von Rosen (1843-1923). Members of his larger family became members of the Edelweissförbundet.

Hilma and the enigmatic Mathilde N.

This year I have been in Sweden twice, for the retrospective exhibition on Hilma af Klint. The invitation came through the Ax:son Johnson Foundation, founded in 1947 by the late Consul General Axel Ax:son Johnson together with his wife Margaret, owner of the Nordstjernan group. The foundation, led by the highly amiable Kurt Almqvist, facilitates scientific research in general, but in particular the liberal arts and the social sciences. I was deeply impressed by their hospitality and professionalism. The foundation has clearly thought very deeply and constructively about their strategy how to inform a wider public about pressing issues in society. Conferences with scholars from all over the world, a website, a magazine, even their own TV channel with the top-Swedish interviewer Thomas Gür, who courteously and tongue-in-cheek said it was his fun ‘to ask stupid questions and get intelligent answers’. All in all: amazing. I wish we had such an institution in my country!

The adventure started in February, when an expert meeting was organized at the opening of the exhibition. The meeting was held in Engelsberg, a top-list Unesco heritage site own by the Ax:son group. Mid-winter, snow-covered landscape in the middle of the woods, paths at night lighted with candles along the sides, in the typically Swedish manner. A truly romantic setting. And a relaxed place to meet many international colleagues from other disciplines. For me personally, my acquaintance with Hilma’s work came full circle, when I met Maurice Tuchman again, who in 1986 organized The Spiritual in Art: Abstract Painting 1890-1985. Its venue at The Hague constituted my first job as a curator. That exhibition showed Hilma’s work in public for the first time after WWII.

In May some of the scholars travelled to Stockholm again, at the closing of the exhibition, to lecture at a public conference in the Moderna Museet. The main objective of the conference was to publicly discuss how Hilma af Klint and her art should be positioned in her time, between the other pioneers of abstract art, and how her art can be understood. The debate intended also to point towards the future. Where does Hilma advance from here? Where should her position be within art history? All of the proceedings and the interviews circling around these basic questions are now on the Axess website. In this blog I want to add a little more to the discussion.