Hilma af Klint and Wassily Kandinsky: Dreams of the Future

The exhibition dedicated to Hilma af Klint (1862–1944) and Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944) is a premiere. Although the artists have often been mentioned in the same breath for several years, their works have only occasionally been shown together in large group exhibitions. With a total of around 120 oil paintings, watercolors, gouaches, and drawings, they will be juxtaposed for the first time in a dialogical exhibition at K20—Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen. The point of departure is abstraction, to the development of which both have made decisive contributions in Western painting. The juxtaposition offers the opportunity to illuminate their works in a symbiotic way.

In its early years, the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen focused on abstract painting. The museum’s holdings include four works by Kandinsky from his most important creative periods, from Composition IV (1911) and Transverse Line (1923) to In the Blue (1925) and Composition X (1939). Kandinsky and af Klint thus meet in one of the world’s leading collections of abstract painting.

For the director of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Susanne Gaensheimer, this exhibition is, among other things, a contribution to art history: “For years, we have been working to expand our collection by specifically presenting and acquiring works by important modern women artists. With this exhibition, the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen is celebrating an art-historical highlight: For the first time ever, two of the most important modern painters, Hilma af Klint and Wassily Kandinsky, are being presented together in a comprehensive exhibition. Today, Hilma af Klint is considered one of the pioneers of abstract painting alongside established artists such as Wassily Kandinsky. With this exhibition, we have succeeded in closing another gap in the history of art and looking at the history of abstraction from a new perspective.”

The exhibition was curated by Julia Voss and Daniel Birnbaum in close collaboration with Susanne Gaensheimer, director of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, and Agnieszka Skolimowska, curatorial assistant.

In 2020, Voss published the highly acclaimed first biography of the artist, the original German edition of which, published by S. Fischer, became a SPIEGEL bestseller. Daniel Birnbaum is co-editor of the multi-volume catalogue raisonné of Hilma af Klint, published by Stolpe Verlag. He was director of the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, which presented the comprehensive retrospective Hilma af Klint: Pioneer of Abstraction in 2013.

The exhibition is accompanied by a publication: Hilma af Klint und Wassily Kandinsky träumen von der Zukunft, S. Fischer Verlag, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf 2024, authors: Julia Voss and Daniel Birnbaum with a foreword by Susanne Gaensheimer, ca. 208 p., numerous illustrations, in German, price: approx. 32,-

Audio guide to the exhibition available exclusively and free of charge with the admission ticket.

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For further information please contact: presse@kunstsammlung.de.