Hilma

Hilma af Klint ( 1862-1844) painted some of the first abstract works in Western art history — in 1906, years before Kandinsky, Mondrian, or Malevich. She believed she was not painting from her own imagination, but channeling messages from spiritual beings she called the High Masters. The work that followed was unlike anything the world had seen. She kept it hidden. In her will, she instructed that the paintings not be shown until at least 20 years after her death — she was painting for an audience that did not yet exist. She died in 1944. It took another 75 years before the world caught up. In 2019, her exhibition at the Guggenheim became the most visited show in the museum's 60-year history.