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A new film about groundbreaking Hilma Af Klint

When the Hilma Af Klint show was at the Guggenheim, the lines were around the block for this largely unknown artist as if for the Rockettes at Christmastime. Hilma turns out to have been a hidden rock star of art and a new documentary (put their hash tag) advocates most strenuously for her place in the artistic firmament. Hilma was fascinated by the scientific advances of her century that dialed down on the invisible: radio waves, atoms, quantum theories. She had a parallel belief in spirituality and communication-especially Theosophy- and founded a woman’s group of avid séance-practitioners. She painted, in dreamlike colors, enormous canvases and series that were hidden away until a few decades ago. By not having exhibited in her lifetime, she was not credited with her important breakthroughs in abstraction. (put The filmmakers name) puts her work ahead of Kandinsky’s. So many artists were breaking through at that time, it is hard to point one single finger. Still, the film is a fascinating look at what artists can create in isolation (artists take heart!), and reminds us that neither art fairs, nor galleries nor museums (MoMA rejected her work) can be considered the arbiters but that artists’ own passions are what drive the greatest creations.