LONDON.- The final volume in a unique catalogue raisonné of the abstract pioneer Hilma af Klint, one of the first to be compiled for a Swedish artist, is now being released. The series comprises seven volumes, and nearly 1,600 of Hilma af Klint’s works.

Hilma af Klint has taken the art world by storm. Having once been virtually unknown, she is now compared with the greatest modern painters, and her works are considered ground-breaking. Nearly 70 years after her death, the map of early abstract art, both in Sweden and internationally, has been redrawn.

The paintings are presented in the same order as the anthroposophist Olof Sundström numbered them in 1945, based on the artist’s notes. A specially produced slipcase to hold all seven volumes will be available in the autumn of 2022.

“A catalogue raisonné is necessary in order to see the different cycles, motifs and symbols that recur in such an exciting way. If someone really wants to understand how Hilma af Klint’s works function, they need these books,” says Daniel Birnbaum

“When Hilma af Klint bequeathed her work to the future, she did not want to leave the image we would form of it to chance. She was her own archivist, editor and censor. She placed her spiritual work in the centre, in words and pictures. This legacy, there can be no doubt, was most important to her,” writes the art historian Julia Voss.

In addition to the completion of Hilma af Klint – Catalogue Raisonné, the unique Virtual Reality piece The Temple, conceived by Daniel Birnbaum and Kurt Almqvist and directed by Marika Stolpe, will be released in connection with the publication of the seventh and last book. The experience is produced by Acute Art and premieres during Frieze London at KOKO in Camden, 12–16 October.

Editors Daniel Birnbaum and Kurt Almqvist