Hilma af Klint: The First Abstract Artist Was a Mystic

BY NICOLE LAU

In 1906, five years before Kandinsky claimed to paint the first abstract watercolor, a Swedish woman named Hilma af Klint was channeling massive abstract paintings from spiritual entities she called "The High Masters." She didn't call herself an artist—she called herself a medium. And she didn't create art—she received transmissions.

For decades, art history erased her. Then in 2018, her retrospective at the Guggenheim became the most-visited show in the museum's history. The world finally discovered what she knew all along: abstract art wasn't invented by men experimenting with form. It was downloaded by a mystic mapping invisible realities.

The Séance That Changed Art History

Hilma af Klint (1862-1944) was a trained botanical illustrator and a practicing medium. In 1896, she and four other women—Anna Cassel, Cornelia Cederberg, Sigrid Hedman, and Mathilda Nilsson—formed a group called "The Five" (De Fem). They met weekly to:

• Conduct séances – Contacting spirits, guides, and higher beings
• Practice automatic writing and drawing – Channeling messages without conscious control
• Receive spiritual teachings – Downloading cosmological knowledge
• Document the invisible – Making the spiritual realm visible

In 1904, during a séance, a being called Amaliel gave af Klint a commission: paint the immortal aspects of man on the astral plane. She was to create 193 paintings over the next decade.

She said yes. And abstract art was born—not from aesthetic experimentation, but from mystical obedience.

The Paintings for the Temple: A Mystical Commission

Between 1906 and 1915, af Klint painted The Paintings for the Temple—193 works in multiple series, each mapping different aspects of spiritual reality:

• Primordial Chaos (1906-1907) – 26 paintings showing the birth of consciousness from void
• The Ten Largest (1907) – Monumental works (over 10 feet tall) depicting the four stages of life
• The Swan Series (1914-1915) – Duality, union, and transcendence through black/white symbolism
• Group IV: The Ten Largest – Childhood, youth, adulthood, old age as spiritual evolution
• The Dove Series – Peace, the Holy Spirit, divine messages
• The Tree of Knowledge Series – Evolution, growth, cosmic structure

These weren't paintings—they were architectural plans for a temple that was never built. A temple designed to awaken consciousness.

The Spiritual Influences: A Mystical Education

Af Klint's cosmology drew from multiple esoteric traditions:

• Theosophy – Helena Blavatsky's teachings on cosmic evolution and spiritual hierarchy
• Anthroposophy – Rudolf Steiner's spiritual science (she attended his lectures)
• Rosicrucianism – Christian mysticism, alchemy, and esoteric Christianity
• Spiritualism – Communication with the dead and spirit guides
• Eastern philosophy – Reincarnation, karma, chakras, and cosmic cycles
• Christian mysticism – The Trinity, divine love, and spiritual transformation

She wasn't inventing a visual language—she was translating existing mystical systems into paint.

Decoding af Klint's Visual Vocabulary

Every shape, color, and symbol in her work carries precise meaning:

Shapes:

• Spirals = Evolution, cosmic cycles, DNA, kundalini energy ascending
• Circles = Unity, wholeness, the soul, cosmic perfection
• U-shapes = The chalice, the feminine, receptivity, the womb
• Snails = Slow evolution, the spiral of time, patience
• Swans = Duality (black/white), union of opposites, spiritual transformation
• Roses = The soul unfolding, divine love, spiritual beauty
• Ladders = Ascension, spiritual hierarchy, Jacob's ladder

Colors:

• Blue = The feminine principle, the spiritual realm, divine wisdom
• Yellow = The masculine principle, the material realm, solar consciousness
• Pink/Rose = Divine love, the heart, spiritual emotion
• Green = Growth, nature, healing, balance
• White = Purity, spirit, the divine
• Black = Matter, the material world, the unmanifest

Letters and Words:

• U = Ur (primordial), the feminine, the chalice
• W = Wisdom, the word, divine knowledge
• A = Alpha, beginning, the divine masculine
• O = Omega, completion, the circle of eternity

She wasn't being abstract—she was being hyper-specific. Every mark was a word in a mystical language.

The Channeling Process: How She Painted

Af Klint described her method:

1. Enter meditative state – Quiet the personal mind, become receptive
2. Invoke the High Masters – Call in Amaliel, Ananda, Gretor, and other guides
3. Receive the vision – See the painting clairvoyantly before touching brush to canvas
4. Allow the hand to move – Automatic painting, the guides directing the brush
5. Paint rapidly – Some large works completed in days, channeled in flow state
6. Record the messages – Keep detailed notebooks of spiritual instructions

She wrote: "The pictures were painted directly through me, without any preliminary drawings, and with great force. I had no idea what the paintings were supposed to depict."

This wasn't self-expression—it was divine dictation.

The Temple That Never Was

Af Klint's paintings were designed for a spiral temple that would guide visitors through stages of spiritual awakening:

• Ground floor – Primordial chaos, the birth of consciousness
• Ascending spiral – Evolution through childhood, youth, adulthood, old age
• Upper levels – Union of opposites, transcendence of duality
• Summit – Divine unity, cosmic consciousness

The temple was never built, but the Guggenheim's spiral architecture accidentally fulfilled her vision when her work was exhibited there in 2018. The universe has a sense of humor.

Why She Hid Her Work

Af Klint stipulated that her abstract paintings not be shown for 20 years after her death. Why?

• The world wasn't ready – She knew her mystical art would be dismissed or misunderstood
• Spiritual timing – The High Masters told her humanity needed to evolve first
• Gender bias – A woman claiming to channel abstract art would be ridiculed
• Protection of the work – She feared it would be destroyed or corrupted

She died in 1944. Her work was first exhibited in 1986—42 years later, double the time she requested. The guides knew what they were doing.

Af Klint vs. Kandinsky: Who Was First?

Art history credits Kandinsky with the first abstract painting (1910). But af Klint was painting massive abstract works in 1906. Why the erasure?

• She was a woman – Male artists were taken seriously; female mediums were not
• She was a mystic – Kandinsky intellectualized his mysticism; she was unapologetically channeling
• She hid her work – Kandinsky exhibited and theorized; she kept silent
• She didn't claim authorship – She said the guides painted through her, not that she invented abstraction

The irony: Kandinsky's abstraction was also mystical (Theosophy), but he framed it as artistic innovation. Af Klint framed it as spiritual service. Guess which one got credit?

The Constant Beneath the Canvas

Here's the deeper truth: Af Klint and Kandinsky weren't inventing abstraction—they were both accessing the same source. One called it "inner necessity," the other called it "the High Masters," but both were translating non-material reality into visual form.

This is Constant Unification: When independent systems (af Klint's channeling, Kandinsky's Theosophy, Mondrian's Neo-Plasticism) converge on the same visual language—spirals, circles, primary colors, geometric abstraction—it's not coincidence. They're all calculating the same cosmic constants.

Abstract art isn't arbitrary. It's what consciousness looks like when you paint it.

The Scientific Mystic: Botany Meets Cosmology

Af Klint's training as a botanical illustrator shaped her mystical vision:

• Precision – She painted spiritual realities with scientific accuracy
• Observation – She documented the invisible with the same rigor she used for plants
• Natural forms – Her spirals, cells, and organic shapes mirror biological structures
• Growth patterns – She saw spiritual evolution as natural law, like photosynthesis

She understood what modern science is rediscovering: the patterns in nature (fractals, spirals, symmetry) are the same patterns in consciousness. The Fibonacci sequence appears in sunflowers and in spiritual awakening.

The Feminist Reclamation

Af Klint's rediscovery is part of a larger pattern:

• Women mystics erased from history – Hildegard of Bingen, Julian of Norwich, Marguerite Porete
• Women artists dismissed as "decorative" – Their spiritual depth ignored
• Women channelers pathologized – Called hysterical, delusional, or fraudulent
• Women's spirituality marginalized – Witches burned, mediums mocked, priestesses forgotten

Af Klint's recognition isn't just art historical correction—it's spiritual justice. The divine feminine is reclaiming her voice.

Practicing af Klint's Method

You can access the same source she did:

1. Create sacred space – Set up an altar, light candles, invoke your guides
2. Enter receptive state – Meditate, breathe, quiet the ego
3. Ask for guidance – "What needs to be painted through me?"
4. Let the hand move – Don't plan, don't think, just allow
5. Use symbolic language – Spirals, circles, colors—let them emerge intuitively
6. Paint large – Af Klint's works were monumental; scale matters for energy
7. Document the process – Keep a journal of messages, visions, insights
8. Trust the transmission – The result doesn't need to make sense to your rational mind

You're not creating art—you're receiving it. There's a difference.

The Legacy: Mystical Art Goes Mainstream

Af Klint's influence is everywhere now:

• Visionary art movement – Alex Grey, Amanda Sage, and psychedelic artists channel similar imagery
• Sacred geometry art – Her spirals and mandalas are now mainstream spiritual aesthetics
• Feminist art history – Reclaiming women mystics and their contributions
• Consciousness research – Her paintings are studied as maps of altered states
• Installation art – Artists creating immersive spiritual experiences, like her temple vision

The 2018 Guggenheim show wasn't just popular—it was a mass initiation. Millions of people stood inside her mystical diagrams and felt something shift.

The Notebooks: A Mystical Codex

Af Klint left behind 26,000 pages of notes, diagrams, and automatic writing. They reveal:

• Detailed cosmology – Maps of spiritual realms, hierarchies, and evolution
• Instructions from guides – Specific directions for paintings, colors, and symbols
• Spiritual autobiography – Her journey through mystical states and initiations
• Scientific mysticism – Attempts to reconcile spiritual vision with natural law

Her notebooks are a grimoire—a complete system of mystical knowledge encoded in text and image.

Conclusion: The Artist as Antenna

Hilma af Klint proved that artists aren't creators—they're receivers. The best art doesn't come from the ego; it comes through the ego when the ego gets out of the way.

She didn't invent abstract art. She tuned into a frequency that was always broadcasting and painted what she heard. Kandinsky tuned into the same frequency. So did Mondrian, Malevich, and Klee. They all heard the same song.

The song is still playing. The High Masters are still transmitting. The question isn't whether you can channel mystical art—it's whether you're willing to get out of your own way and let it come through.

Af Klint's legacy isn't her paintings. It's the permission she gives us to trust the invisible, to paint what we can't explain, to serve something larger than our personal vision.

The temple is still being built. And you're holding a brush.