The Swan, No. 1, Group IX/SUW
Hilma af Klint‘s The Swan, No. 1, Group IX/SUW is the newest addition to our suite of editions from the visionary pioneer—and boy, does the message of af Klint’s painting ring as true today as it did when she painted it in 1914. Julia Voss, author of the definitive Hilma af Klint: A Biography (University of Chicago Press, 2022), explains that when she’d started the series in Stockholm, “…the First World War had broken out. Af Klint was convinced that materialism and nationalism had plunged the world into violence and chaos. A spiritual change was needed. A new way of thinking and feeling had to develop. Her series opened up a doorway. Spirit had to overcome black and white thinking….She did not believe in the cult of strength and violence that was widespread in her times.”
