Hilma af Klint & Piet Mondrian: Forms of Life

Although Hilma af Klint and Piet Mondrian never met, this exhibition at Tate Modern in London (20 April–3 September) makes the case that both artists invented a language of abstraction as a way of understanding the natural (and supernatural) world, in response to the rapid scientific developments of the period. While Mondrian is best-known today for his minimalist works, he began his career, like af Klint, as a landscape painter. On show here are examples of his rarely exhibited flower paintings alongside af Klint’s botanical drawings. Later works by the Swedish artist reveal her interest in spiritualism – af Klint was also a medium and believed that many of her works, such as the extraordinary series The Ten Largest (1907), were commissioned by  spirit guides. Mondrian’s own esoteric beliefs about the notion of symmetry in nature are also explored through works such as Composition with Red, Black, Yellow, Blue and Gray (1921). Find out more on the Tate’s website.

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Composition with Red, Black, Yellow, Blue and Grey (1921), Piet Mondrian. Kunstmuseum Den Haag

The Ten Largest, Group IV, No. 7, Adulthood (1907), Hilma af Klint. Courtesy the Hilma af Klint Foundation

Composition in colour B (1917), Piet Mondrian. Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo

The Ten Largest, Group IV, No. 3, Youth (1907), Hilma af Klint. Courtesy the Hilma af Klint Foundation