Events at Reed

Iris Müller-Westermann, senior curator of international art at Moderna Museet in Stockholm, lectures on the work of pioneering Swedish abstract artist Hilma af Klint (1862–1944), a pioneer of art that turned away from visible reality. Hilma af Klint assumed that there was a spiritual dimension to life, and aimed at visualizing contexts beyond what the eye can see. Through her paintings, she sought to understand and communicate the various dimensions of human existence. Müller-Westermann presents a comprehensive view of af Klint’s artistic development and working methods; her work as an artist and researcher; her life as a woman artist at the turn of the century; the radicality and boldness of her abstract oeuvre; and the challenges and opportunities that af Klint’s work offers us today. Müller-Westermann served as curator of the 2013 exhibition Hilma af Klint: Pioneer of Abstraction, the first-ever retrospective of Hilma af Klint’s visionary, spiritual paintings, drawings, and artist books. This is Müller-Westermann’s only scheduled lecture on af Klint’s work in the United States. Sponsored by the Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery. [Image: Svanen Nr. 9, courtesy of Hilma af Klint Foundation, Stockholm.]