Group IX-SUW, The Swan, No. 1 1915

Hilma af Klint made this painting of two swans, one white, one black, probably sometime in the early 20th century. The colour palette is minimal: white and black, and a dash of blue and red where they meet. What was Klint thinking when she made this? I mean, imagine the scene: the studio is quiet, and she’s moving paint around, lost in thought. Maybe she’s thinking about duality, like yin and yang. A big theme for her, the duality of existence, the light and the dark. The surface is built up with layers, giving the swans texture and depth. You can almost feel the soft, downy feathers. Klint’s always searching, pushing the boundaries of what painting can be. She’s part of a whole gang of artists who inspire each other across time and space. These artists, like Klint, embrace ambiguity, and understand that a painting can have multiple meanings, depending on who’s looking at it.