Arte Documentary Reveals the Occult Hilma af Klint

A new documentary by Manuelle Blanc, available on Arte, explores the life and work of Swedish abstract pioneer Hilma af Klint (1862–1944). Af Klint created 1,600 abstract paintings and 124 notebooks before Kandinsky, Mondrian, and Malevich, but her work remained hidden for decades due to her will stipulating a 20-year posthumous delay. The film coincides with an exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris, co-organized with the Centre Pompidou, following a record-breaking 2018 retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Af Klint led a double life as an academic painter and a spiritualist medium, producing "astral" works dictated by spirits. The documentary features descendants and specialists decoding her organic motifs, mystical figures, and geometric forms, particularly her "Paintings for the Temple" series (1906–1915). The film is available on arte.tv until August 30, 2026.