Roman, BD, jeunesse : 3 livres pour se plonger dans l’univers cosmique d’Hilma af Klint
Beaux Arts Magazine reports on three new books about Swedish artist Hilma af Klint (1862–1944), published to coincide with her first major French retrospective at the Grand Palais, co-organized with the Centre Pompidou. The exhibition highlights af Klint as a pioneer of abstraction who preceded Kandinsky, Malevich, and Kupka, guided by spiritualist voices. The three publications are: a biographical novel "Femme, oiseau, étoile" by Véronique Le Normand (Actes Sud); a graphic novel "Hilma af Klint. Les Cinq Vies" by Philipp Deines with a postface by Julia Voss (GrandPalaisRmnÉditions); and a children's book "Le Carnet d'Hilma" by Véronique Le Normand and Lisbeth Renardy (Hélium / GrandPalaisRmnÉditions).
The article matters because it demonstrates how af Klint's long-obscured legacy is now being widely disseminated through multiple formats—scholarly exhibition, biography, graphic novel, and children's literature—making her cosmic, spiritual abstraction accessible to diverse audiences. This publishing moment reflects a broader cultural reassessment of women artists who were marginalized in art history, and positions af Klint as a key figure in the origin story of modern abstraction, challenging the traditional male-dominated narrative.