01/06/2026
A talk on artist Hilma af Klint - identity, spirituality, and q***r experience
Thursday, June 25, 7 pm at Spinnboden
Swedish writer Ida Therén gives a talk on the artist Hilma af Klint, exploring how her art connects to questions of identity, spirituality, and q***r experience. Based on her Swedish-language novel about af Klint—awarded the q***r literary Prisma Prize—Therén shares insights into the artist’s life and work.
Hilma af Klint (1862–1944) was relatively unknown as an artist during her lifetime, but became famous in the early 2010s, with several record-breaking exhibitions around the world. 600 000 people came to see her show at Guggenheim in New York. She is now hailed as a pinoeer in abstraction and spiritualistic art.
In her novel and in her talk at Spinnboden, Ida Therén looks at af Klint’s close relationships with women, especially with her long term partner Thomasine Andersson. She also talks more about af Klint’s unique visual language, and her spiritual search, where she claims that her paintings were inspired by the spirit world. The talk also includes short reflections on the writing of the novel and the process of bringing this story into literature.
Image: Hilma af Klint: Die zehn Größten, Nr. 2, Kindheit, Gruppe IV, 1907, Öl und Tempera auf Papier, auf Pappe montiert, 328 × 240 cm, Moderna Museet, Stockholm
