Fragaria vesca (Woodland Strawberry), Oxalis acetosella (European Wood Sorrel), Antennaria dioica (Catsfoot), Taraxacum officinale (Common Dandelion). Sheet 9 from the portfolio Nature Studies by Hilma af Klint is a complex mixed-media drawing created between 1919 and 1920. This piece is the ninth sheet in a larger portfolio of 46 drawings, all focused on rigorous botanical observation, yet deeply infused with the spiritual and esoteric concerns central to Klint’s artistic philosophy. The work combines delicate studies of specific flora-including woodland strawberry, wood sorrel, catsfoot, and common dandelion-with abstract interpretations of organic structure and energetic flow.
Klint employed a mixed media approach, utilizing watercolor, pencil, ink, gouache, and metallic paint on paper to achieve both precise detail and luminous atmospheric effects. The sophisticated application of metallic paint suggests the artist's ongoing interest in reflecting non-material light and spiritual energy, a characteristic found throughout her profound contributions to early abstract art. Although rooted in the observational tradition, the Swedish artist transformed these botanical models into diagrams of energetic and physical existence. The specific drawing dates, recorded as June 2–3, 1919 and May 24–25, 1920, underscore the meticulous and temporally structured approach Klint took to her creative process, often relating her sessions to spiritual guidance.
This specific drawing serves as an important document linking Klint's earlier, intensely spiritualist investigations with the geometric and organizational clarity found in her later compositions. It illustrates the artist's enduring commitment to bridging the visible, natural world and the invisible, metaphysical realms through analogy. As a critical piece revealing the experimental nature of the Nature Studies series, this significant drawing is currently held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
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