Hilma af Klint & Piet Mondriaan

Kunstmuseum Den Haag brings together the work of two pioneering modern artists: Hilma af Klint (1862 – 1944) and Piet Mondriaan (1872 – 1944). As landscape painters, both found their way to abstraction with their own visual language. Both created work at the beginning of the 20th century in response to the changing world around them. Although the two artists never met, the exhibition shows that their idiosyncratic styles grew out of a shared fascination with the natural world and a desire to understand the forces behind life on Earth.

In 1987, the artworks of the Swedish artist Hilma af Klint (1862-1944) were shown for the first time outside Sweden in Europe at Kunstmuseum Den Haag, in the exhibition The Spiritual in Art: Abstract Painting, 1890-1985 initiated by the Kunstmuseum and LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art). The fact that the then completely unknown Af Klint was referred to here as one of the five abstract pioneers – alongside Mondrian, Kandinsky, Malevich and Kupka – raised the necessary questions. But times have changed. Worldwide, both the art world and the public have embraced the colourful, visionary work.

In collaboration with Tate Modern, Kunstmuseum Den Haag brings together her groundbreaking work with that of her pioneering contemporary: Piet Mondriaan (1872-1944). The painters have never met, but their idiosyncratic oeuvres both reflect an era in which scientific discoveries and new ideas about spirituality are radically changing our view of reality.