Until I saw the trailer for new documentary Beyond The Visible – Hilma af Klint, I had zero prior knowledge of one of Sweden’s most important abstract artists. 

With a now famous oeuvre that has attracted millions of fans worldwide, including myself, the biggest revelation wasn’t simply that Klint was great but that she is actually the world’s first abstract artist. One who, for many years wasn’t mentioned anywhere in art history books; an unfortunate result of the usual sexism within the field.

Directed by Halina Dyrschka, I simply had to watch Beyond The Visible – Hilma af Klint to learn about an extraordinary woman. A woman who’s not only now firmly on my list of favourite artists, but one who also happens to be abstraction’s biggest discovery.

Through the use of images of Klint’s art, interviews with surviving family members, art experts and recreations of her most famous pieces, Dyrschka teaches us about the life of Klint, what made her tick and the inspiration behind her great works.

A key highlight of  watching Dyrschka’s documentary is getting to look at a fair amount of Klint’s body of work. I definitely savoured every moment the camera was focused on her creations. Perhaps even more so once science, spirituality and ‘that which is invisible to the eye‘ were mentioned as additional sources of inspiration.

In terms of anything I didn’t love about this documentary, that would be the periods mainly at the beginning where it felt like the pace was slower than preferred. There may also be a chance that I was simply impatient to know as much as I could about Klint. Especially since beyond my appreciation of her use of colour, shapes and proportion, I had zero idea about what any of it really meant. By the end, what I knew for sure is that I had an expanded appreciation for science. 

Watch Dyrschka’s film if you’re a fan of abstraction, curious about Klint – a woman who knew herself well enough to say, among other things:

‘Within me wells forth such power carrying me forward, that marriage and family happiness are not my destiny.’ 

There’s of course the art. Definitely watch for more of Klint’s beautiful art.

Happy Film Loving 

G