The Ten Largest, No. 6, Adulthood, Group IV

In the 1890s, Hilma af Klint began meeting regularly with a group of female artists who together became known as “The Five”. The Five practiced various forms of spiritualism, believing they could communicate with a higher consciousness. Af Klint thought herself directed by this otherworldly force to create a group of paintings called The Ten Largest for “The Temple”, an entity never wholly defined or understood. Standing at a colossal 10 feet high and 8 feet wide, each painting in the series represents a different phase of life from early childhood to old age. No. 6 depicts adulthood in full bloom. Botanical and biomorphic forms float in a diagram heavy with symbolism and alive with meditative movement. By the early 1900s, af Klint had developed a distinct spiritual style hallmarked by the interplay of the natural and supernatural. Stylistically unbound to the artistic conventions of the time, No. 6 is one of the first examples of abstract art.