My first encounter with Hilma af Klint
A symbolic revelation
Speechless, we stood before the strong images with their meaningful symbolism.
"She paints what you write ...!" This was my husband's remark when we visited the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art near Copenhagen in Denmark in 2013.
On a rainy summer day, we had entered the simple, stylish building through the green garden with the big old trees.
Striking symbolism and universal meaning of the images
A feeling of being overwhelmed had taken hold of me: For symbols that had become important to me in connection with my work were emblazoned oversized and in strong colors and shapes on the walls of the premises.
Since then, the Swedish artist, who was born exactly 100 years before me in my home country, has accompanied me.
She is considered a pioneer of abstract art. But her paintings illustrate with the symbols also basic human content and deep understanding of spiritual principles that underlie our earthly reality.
The three altarpieces by Hilma af Klint
At the heart of these inspired and inspiring symbolic messages are the three altarpieces created in 1915.
The dimension of the pictures: 9 square metres
Each picture is about 2.6 x 3.5 metres in size, i.e. 9m2. This number also has symbolic content. The number 9 (= 3 x 3) can be seen as a symbolic representation for triple trinity and thus the wholeness of the human being. (It concerns wholeness in body, soul and spirit in each of the three phases of human life: Youth, adulthood and mature age. Accordingly, the dimension of the Holy of Holies in the sanctuary of the people of Israel was 3 x 3 x 3 metres and thus a cube of 18m3, see also the numbers 3, 6 and 9 in the fairy tale of George the dragon slayer).
The altarpieces for man's journey towards wholeness, salvation or "holiness
The three altarpieces can be interpreted as a representation of man's path to wholeness, salvation, "holiness" and thus to "God". This is the theme of this homepage. The golden colour in the pictures in it fits as a symbol for wholeness and eternity, which also occurs in many human traditions.