Hilma Af Klint: The Temple – Swedenborg House, London

A review of a VR experience at Swedenborg House, allowing you to step into the world of Hilma af Klint. Captivating if short, it brought mediumistic art to life for this reviewer.

Hilma af Klint

Today’s post isn’t about any old artist – the beliefs and artistic practice of Hilma af Klint are integral to the experience so please indulge me as I give a bit of background first. Hilma af Klint was a Swedish artist, who was born in 1862 and died in 1944. She was accepted to Sweden’s Royal Academy of the Arts at age twenty, and painted what you might call ‘mainstream’ paintings for a living. This was not her life’s work, however. Her life’s work was something much loftier, taking inspiration from beyond the mortal realm.

Af Klint became interested in spiritualism as a young woman. There were several slightly different movements then prevalent, including theosophy, anthroposophy, mesmerism and spiritism, influenced by thinkers including Emanuel Swedenborg. As part of a close-knit group of women, ‘The Five’, af Klint regularly partook in seances and began to paint heavenly visions and schemes. Looking at these works from a purely art historical point of view, they are amongst the first abstract paintings. It’s possible that they inspired artists such as Kandinsky.

Af Klint exhibited her abstract paintings in her lifetime, to sympathetic (read spiritualist) audiences. After her death, however, she expressed a wish that they not be seen by the public for twenty years. It’s only in more recent decades, therefore, that she has entered the public consciousness. To go from relative posthumous obscurity to the most-visited exhibition at the Guggenheim is quite a feat! And with a catalogue raisonné on the way, Acute Art have now created a VR and augmented reality experience based on af Klint’s works. The former debuted in London around Frieze Week, including at Swedenborg House, where I saw it.

The Temple

Long-time blog readers may remember I’ve been to Swedenborg House before. I saw a project there by Royal College of Art students in 2020. It’s an unusual place, with a unique offering of events, including this one. You enter Swedenborg House via their bookshop, full of new and second-hand books on Swedenborg and related topics. On this occasion, my name was then checked off a list and I waited a few minutes until it was time to see The Temple.

Through in the darkened hall of the Swedenborg Society was a circle of creaking wooden chairs with shiny modern VR headsets laid out on them. I’ve done virtual reality experiences before, and there was minimal hand-holding by the attendants so I popped my headset on and began. The experience lasts something like 12 minutes, and takes you through some of af Klint’s paintings before leading you into a representation of ‘The Temple’, the intended destination of the artist’s visionary works. Interestingly, its spiral interior hung with paintings along the walls reminded me strongly of the Guggenheim itself.

The lightbulb moment for me was understanding that af Klint’s abstract paintings, often depicting shapes, lines and spirals, are not static images. Well they are, but the intention is to capture what must be moving beings and worlds. The VR does a great job of breathing life back into af Klint’s visions. It is all over rather quickly, but seeing it in an atmospheric a place as Swedenborg House is a bit like an immersive experience and makes it worthwhile. Sadly it was only on for two days, but must be going to pop up again somewhere at some stage. You can catch it in Paris soon, or will need to keep an eye out otherwise!

Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 3.5/5

See more about Hilma af Klint: The Temple on the Acute Art website