The Swan, No. 12, Group IX-SUW 1915

Hilma af Klint painted this image of a swan in a muted palette of pinks, browns, and grays, bisected by what looks like a watery horizon line. Imagine her in the studio, perhaps in a trance-like state, trying to find her way into the invisible, the spiritual, and the unknown. I love the two circles, one white, one brown, with radiating lines, like auras or halos, and the way they anchor the composition. Then this double triangle bisects the circles like an hourglass, reflecting a spectrum of rainbow colors. Did she feel like she was peering into another dimension, a world beyond our everyday perception? She was part of a generation of painters, like Kandinsky and Mondrian, who were thinking about how to make a painting of the unsayable. It’s like they were all in a conversation, all trying to figure out how painting could be a window into something else. I admire af Klint's bravery and determination to push the boundaries of what painting could be, opening up new possibilities for artists who came after her.