Evolution (1908)

Gallery 207

Even though Hilma af Klint seldom showed her work outside her circle during these years, she invited Rudolf Steiner, leader of the German Theosophical Society and one of the figures she most respected and admired, to visit her studio in Stockholm.

Evolution depicts symbolic and figurative images from Christian iconography and Theosophy. Formally, these works are characterized by fewer freely moving lines. Af Klint created them continuously, finishing a canvas every three days. Darwinism was not the primary source of her take on the theme; instead af Klint’s approach was more aligned with Steiner’s and other Theosophical ideas in which evolution is a spiritual process where the soul evolves and draws closer to the divine.