A Hilma af Klint Watercolor of a Burning Heart Could Fetch $500,000 in a Rare Sale of the Artist’s Work in Sweden

A watercolor by Hilma af Klint that has not been publicly seen
since 1988 is now for sale at CFHill, a Swedish art advisory
specializing in private sales and consignments. The delicate work
will be on view starting April 29 at the Stockholm gallery as part
of an exhibition that also includes work by Andy Warhol and Marc
Chagall.

The 1930 watercolor, titled Eldslågor (Fiery
Flames), sold at auction for $2,000 to a private bidder in
1988, a time when the Swedish painter’s work was still relatively
unknown. The work is now estimated to sell for between
$300,000 and $500,000.

“This is a very dramatic composition, which features a burning
heart in a rocky landscape. It lends itself immediately to
interpretation as a symbolic self-portrait,” says Michael
Storåkers, head of contemporary art at CFHill. “This heart is a
lonely one, too, but has a more triumphant, fiery expression.”

The work is one of two watercolors that Klint gave as a gift to
a pair of younger female textile artists, Elsa and Magda Jerud,
sisters whom she admired and were part of the Anthroposophical
Society with her. The whereabouts of the second watercolor is
unknown. A similarly-sized watercolor dated to 1931 sold last fall
at a Swedish auction for $168,000, excluding buyer’s premiums,
according to the Artnet Price
Database.

“Our painting is simply a stronger piece, there is no doubt
about it,” says a spokesperson for CFHill, adding that some experts
recommended a pricetag as high as $1 million
for Eldslågor. “It’s much more abstract, more like
the works from this period exhibited at thte Guggenheim by Hilma af
Klint, and still more intimate. Exactly what you are looking for
when it comes to work from the 1930s, especially with the burning
heart in the picture, seen as a potential self-portrait.”

The work will be included in the artist’s catalogue raisonné
currently being produced by the Hilma af Klint Foundation.

The avant-garde artist who was certainly under-appreciated in
her lifetime was the subject of a major retrospective at Guggenheim
last year that received critical
acclaim and broke the attendance record for the
New York institution. The vast majority of the artist’s work is
owned by the Hilma af Klint foundation, and the relatively few
works in private hands rarely make it to auction.

Eldslågor will be exhibited in a show called “Ten by
Ten,” which opens begins April 29 and runs through June 6. The
group show covers 10 masters over multiple generations,
geographies, and materials. Viewings are available by private
booking only.

The post A Hilma af Klint Watercolor of a Burning Heart
Could Fetch $500,000 in a Rare Sale of the Artist’s Work in
Sweden appeared first on artnet News.