These Hilma af Klint art projects for kids are perfect for October – it’s the artist’s birthday month, and it fits in quite well with the season’s spirit!

“Every time I succeed in finishing one of my sketches, my understanding of humanity, animals, plants, minerals, or the entire creation, becomes clearer.” ~ Hilma af Klint

We’ve heard of artists who became popular during their lifetime, like Leonardo da Vinci. We’ve also heard of artists who became famous after their death, like Vincent van Gogh, often because their work was discovered much later.

However, have you ever heard of an artist who specifically said that their work shouldn’t be revealed to the world for 20 years after their death?

Well, that’s exactly what Hilma af Klint did!

Hilma af Klint’s work was all about abstract art, and she worried that people wouldn’t understand it till much later. That’s why she insisted on keeping her work hidden for two whole decades. Looking at one of her masterpieces here, we think she may have been right!

Born in 1862 in Sweden, Hilma af Klint is considered one of the Western world’s first abstract artists, even ahead of famous artists like Wassily Kandinsky and Piet Mondrian. Unfortunately, the delay of 20 years meant that her work was discovered much later.

Klint’s work is chiefly based on her spiritual beliefs, featuring bold colors and geometric shapes that express complex ideologies. She was a mystic, and it influenced the themes of most of her masterpieces.

So why are we talking about Hilma af Klint today? It’s because her birthday is coming up on 26th October, and with October being the month dealing with all things supernatural, we think it goes perfectly with what Hilma was interested in! So here are some beautiful Hilma af Klint art projects for kids to explore the artist’s work and life in more detail.

Contents show

10 Hilma af Klint Art Projects for Kids

1. Hilma af Klint Printable Activity Sheets

Hilma af Klint was deeply spiritual, and she believed that she was being guided by the spirit world to paint. She claimed that she was instructed to create paintings for a ‘Temple’, although she wasn’t clear what the Temple was. Those paintings came to be known as the Temple Series and are among her most famous works. Well, it’s okay if we don’t have any spiritual guidance for these Hilma af Klint art projects for kids, this printable from Mini Mad Things will guide us well!

2. Hilma af Klint Collage Art Project

Some paintings in Klint’s Temple Series are huge, and they were called the ‘Ten Largest’. These large paintings show different stages of life from childhood to old age. Little Bins for Little Hands brings us an art activity that is inspired by one of the Ten Largest, called ‘No. 3 Youth’. It features lots of colors against a bright orange background, reflecting the joy of youth.

3. Step-by-Step Hilma af Klint Art Project Tutorial

Hilma’s interest in the spirit world began in 1880, when her little sister Hermina passed away. She began exploring mysticism and was inspired by the teachings of the Theosophical Society. Her paintings reflect her thoughts, featuring various dualities like male-female, good-evil, and so on. She used specific colors to represent each one, like blue for female and yellow for male. Learn more about Klint’s choice of colors in this art project by Art Projects for Kids.

4. Hilma af Klint Miniature Art Tutorial

You can’t have a list of Hilma af Klint art projects for kids without mentioning abstract art, her chosen art style. Abstract art uses shapes, colors, lines and more to communicate ideas, and may not feature ‘realistic’ images as seen in other paintings. Hilma af Klint also used letters, words and symbols in her paintings. Stephanie Guy shows us how to incorporate this style in this art project inspired by Klint.

5. The Art and Life of Hilma af Klint

Along with these Hilma af Klint art projects for kids, check out books about the artist, like this one written by Ylva Hillström and illustrated by Karin Eklund. This book captures the essence of Hilma’s world and includes beautiful illustrations and reproductions of her paintings. A must-read for anyone who wants to learn more about Hilma af Klint!

6. Hilma af Klint Artist Study Worksheet

Hilma had her own kind of girl gang – it was called ‘The Five‘, and besides Hilma, it included Anna Cassel, Cornelia Cederberg, Sigrid Hedman, and Mathilda Nilsson. The group was interested in Theosophy and paranormal elements and often tried to communicate with spirits through séances. That’s why we think Halloween month is the perfect time to try out Klint-inspired art projects, like this one from Felt Tip Pen!

7. Hilma af Klint Inspired Painting

Although Klint kept her main artistic work under wraps for two decades, she did make and sell many other paintings. These were mainly portraits, botanical sketches and landscapes; they were her source of income. She was a good student at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, even winning a studio as a scholarship, which she used as her base to experiment with art. Try out your own art experiments with this tutorial from Art Smart.

8. Hilma af Klint Abstract Art Tutorial

Hilma af Klint was deeply inspired by nature, probably because she spent her childhood on the beautiful island of Adelsö in Lake Mälaren. There was a stage in her life when she was obsessed with drawing flowers, saying that she wanted to “grasp the flowers of the earth.” When she drew flowers, she often combined them with geometric shapes or dots and strokes. You can explore this style through Deep Space Sparkle’s art project.

9. Hilma af Klint Ornaments

Kids going through these Hilma af Klint art projects for kids may wonder why af Klint wanted to keep her work hidden for so long. In 1908, af Klint invited Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian philosopher, to see her paintings for the Temple series. Steiner wasn’t impressed and said that no one would understand her work. Hilma was so upset that she stopped painting for 4 years. This could be why she explicitly stated that her paintings stay hidden for so long. However, you don’t have to hide your work; try out this fun experiment of creating Klint-inspired Christmas ornaments from Ms. Mundt’s Art Class!

10. Hilma af Klint Mixed Media Projects

Hilma only exhibited her work a few times, and these were mostly spiritual gatherings. When she died, she left all her paintings to her nephew, who was the vice-admiral of the Royal Swedish Navy. It was much later, in 2018, that her work was exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, which turned out to be the most-attended exhibition in the museum’s history. Learn more facts about the artist’s life with this printable list from Art Literacy Academy.

We hope these Hilma af Klint art projects for kids will help more people learn about this artist whose work remained hidden for so long. It is sad that even though her work was revealed after 20 years, it took much longer for her art to gain proper recognition. Let’s change that by learning and making more art inspired by the artist!

If you enjoyed these Hilma af Klint art projects for kids, you may like to check out these famous female artists: