An important exploration of the lives and art of Hilma af Klint and Wassily Kandinsky, two pioneers of abstraction at the turn of the twentieth centuryThe Swedish artist Hilma af Klint is one of the art world’s major rediscoveries of the twenty-first century. While the Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky has famously been credited for creating the first abstract artwork, this designation has been called into question with the resurfacing and renewed study of af Klint’s nonfigurative paintings. In this captivating volume, the af Klint biographer and scholar Julia Voss and the curator and writer Daniel Birnbaum convey in depth the two artists’ nearly parallel development away from figuration and into the liberating, mystical vision of art.

While there is no indication that these artists, who both died in 1944, ever met, this publication presents a dynamic and visual conversation between them. Through this engrossing account of the affinities and divergences between af Klint’s and Kandinsky’s lives and work—supported by more than 100 striking illustrations—we gain a deeper understanding of the forces that shaped their artistic trajectories. By examining the spiritual, sociopolitical, and personal contexts that influenced their practices, this book invites us to witness a pivotal moment in which the art world was forever changed.