Hilma af Klint's Pioneering Abstraction Arrives in São Paulo with Monumental 1907 Series

The Pinacoteca do Estado in São Paulo presents a landmark exhibition of Hilma af Klint, featuring 130 works including her monumental 1907 series "The Ten Largest." These ten paintings, each nearly 3.5 meters tall and created over 40 days, represent the ten ages of human life and are considered among the earliest Western abstract artworks. Af Klint, a graduate of Sweden's Royal Academy of Fine Arts in 1887, stipulated in her will that her non-figurative work remain hidden for 20 years after her death, leading to its obscurity for nearly a century. The exhibition, curated by Jochen Volz, marks the first presentation of her key early 20th-century series in Latin America, running until mid-July. Her work, deeply influenced by spiritualism, science, and later anthroposophy through Rudolf Steiner, predates canonical abstract artists like Wassily Kandinsky and Piet Mondrian. The show highlights her serial practice and includes previously unseen pieces, drawing connections to Brazilian art through geometric form, religious syncretism, and universality. Af Klint left over 26,000 manuscript pages and 1,200 paintings, drawings, and watercolors. Her first major retrospective occurred in 2013 at Stockholm's Moderna Museet.