Hilma af Klint

An artist both of her time and well ahead of it, Hilma af Klint was a rare original. Years before such Modernist pioneers as Piet Mondrian and Vasily Kandinsky dipped their brushes into abstraction, af Klint was breaking ground with colorful, energetic compositions that veered away from the figurative. Influenced by her experiences with spiritualism, she attempted to reconcile art, science, and religious pluralism through her brilliant paintings. In her lifetime she primarily exhibited her more conventional artwork and ultimately determined that the world wasn't ready for her abstract magnum opus, The Paintings for the Temple . She decreed in her will that her work not be shown for 20 years after her death. Now celebrated, the 12 remarkable temple pieces on display in this calendar were selected from one of af Klint's most imaginative and productive periods of experimentation. Explore the power of originality!