Like Vassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian and Kazimir Malevich, who have previously been regarded as the main protagonists of abstract art, Hilma af Klint was influenced by contemporary spiritual movements, such as spiritism, theosophy and, later, anthroposophy. Hilma af Klint’s oeuvre builds on the awareness of a spiritual dimension of consciousness, an aspect that was being marginalized in an increasingly materialistic world. When she painted, she believed that a higher consciousness was speaking through her. In her astonishing works she combines geometric shapes and symbols with ornamentation. Her multifaceted imagery strives to give insights into the different dimensions of existence, where microcosm and macrocosm reflect one another.

Hilma af Klint left more than 1,000 paintings, watercolors and sketches. Although she exhibited her early, representational works, she refused to show her abstract paintings during her lifetime. In her will, she stipulated that these groundbreaking works must not be shown publicly until 20 years after her death. She was convinced that only then would the world be fully and completely ready to understand their significance.

The Ambition to Create Novel Expression abstracted her oeuvre for an outstanding spring summer 2014. Featured on shirting, fleece, jersey and scarves, her artwork presents the garments with distinctiveness. Inspired by the new spirituality of the late 1800s and with an interest in the esoteric and occult, Hilma af Klint created a complex body of work that was a forerunner in the canon of non-objective art.