Lamium album (White Deadnettle), Silene flos-cuculi (Ragged Robin), Fumaria officinalis (Common Fumitory). Sheet 46 from the portfolio Nature Studies is a detailed botanical drawing by the influential Swedish artist Hilma af Klint, executed in 1920. This specific work is one piece in a remarkable collection of 46 plant studies known collectively as Nature Studies, which offers significant insight into Klint’s comprehensive approach to art and science.
Klint utilized a complex and rich array of media for this sheet, including watercolor, pencil, ink, and metallic paint on paper. The application of metallic paint is particularly noteworthy, adding an unexpected luminosity to the traditionally observational drawing format. While the artist is globally celebrated for her pioneering abstract canvases, this particular series showcases her meticulous skill in naturalistic representation. Created specifically between June 16–18, 1920, the drawing captures the distinct anatomical features of the White Deadnettle, Ragged Robin, and Common Fumitory with both precision and an expressive quality of line.
This body of work serves as a link between empirical observation and the esoteric inquiries that underpinned much of Klint’s practice, reflecting her lifelong quest to understand the underlying spiritual structure of the world through both scientific and occult means. As an important example of 20th-century Swedish artistic output, this piece demonstrates the artist’s versatility, moving fluidly between pure abstraction and detailed illustration.
The drawing is classified within the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). The preservation of these unique drawings ensures continued scholarly accessibility to Klint’s process. While the original artwork resides in the museum, digital images of Klint's extensive and varied catalog occasionally enter the public domain, allowing wider appreciation of these early 1920 nature studies.
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