THE IDENTITY CRISIS OF PEOPLE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY IN THE WORK OF HILMA AF KLINT
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18485/f_zsmu.2023.19.7Keywords:
Hilma af Klint, gender conflict, theosophy, science and art, abstract artAbstract
Hilma af Klint is a Swedish artist who lived and worked at turn of the twentieth century and who incorporated abstract elements into her work very early on. With her abstract paintings, created during the first two decades of the 20th century, the artist presented some of the key problems, doubts and fears of the society caused by scientific discoveries and great social changes of that era. The paper will analyze Hilma af Klint’s abstract works portraying three topics: the crisis of masculinity and the motif of gender conflict, the impact of theosophical and esoteric theories on the art and spirituality of this period, and the impact of new scientific discoveries on understanding of the physical world, its possibilities and limitations. An analysis of the frequently used motifs in her paintings, and the notes that the artist left about her work, will show Hilma af Klint’s thoughts on these and the similar topics that occupied her contemporaries at the beginning of the 20th century.
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