Relative of Hilma af Klint condemns NFTs of the artist’s paintings

Over 160 non-fungible tokes (NFT) of works from Swedish artist Hilma af Klints Paintings for the temple series were released for sale by digital art company Acute Art and Stolpe Publishing on Pharrell Williams’ GODA (Gallery of Digital Assets) platform this week – despite strong objections from a relative of the artist.

“Even if you don’t believe in spirits, everyone carries spiritual beliefs and aspirations for something higher in life,” said Hedvig Ersman, the granddaughter of af Klint’s nephew, Erik af Klint, in an interview with Hyperallergic. “Hilma af Klint’s paintings speak to us of that… That they are monetized, and specified and sold as NFTs – this is completely against Hilma af Klint’s will.”

GODA, Acute Art and Stolpe Publishing have yet to respond to Hyperallergic’s immediate request for comment.

Af Klint began work on her magnificent Paintings for the temple cycle in 1906. Although few realized it at the time, the series would mark a watershed for art history, which until then had never seen abstract, non-representational art like it. Unabashed in his use of simple and joyful forms and colors, af Klint was deeply influenced by spiritualism and theosophy, a movement popular in the Western world at the turn of the century that united philosophy, science and South Asian religious traditions. Af Klint understood her works in Paintings for the temple series — which she worked on for nearly a decade — to be part of her mystical practice. Given their esoteric quality, she insisted they were not seen for two decades after her death.

The NFT sale includes 162 works. The remaining 31 works in af Klint’s series have also been converted into NFTs, but will be kept “non-commercial” and remain with Stolpe Publishing. Ersman questioned why the 31 NFTs were kept off the market and condemned their individual sales.

“She saw these paintings as part of one project. They were meant to be held together,” Ersman tells Hyperallergic. and uses Hilma af Klint’s name and reputation to undermine her message.”

Acute Art has worked with contemporary artists such as Jeff Koons, Anish Kapoor, Marina Abramović and KAWS to produce NFTs and works in virtual and augmented reality. Hilma af Klint is the only non-contemporary artist listed on the website.

Three members of the board of the Hilma af Klint foundation – first established in 1972 by Hilma’s nephew Erik af Klint, who inherited all her works and notes – sit in the management of Stolpe’s parent group, the Ax:son Johnson foundation. An additional member of the board is the director of Acute Art. Although the NFT project is not supported by the foundation, a press release announcing the sale marketed it as a “digital extension” of af Klint’s catalog raisonné publication late this year—which received the foundation’s official seal of approval.

In response to Hyperallergic’s request for comment, Jessica Höglund, CEO of the Hilma af Klint Foundation, said the foundation has not made any statements regarding the legality of the NFTs. Because af Klint’s work is in the public domain, she said, “the foundation is not involved [a] position to either allow or oppose third-party reproductions of Hilma af Klint’s work (regardless of whether such reproductions are posters or NFTs).”

Ersman said that despite the expiration of the copyright on af Klint’s work, those related to the artist continue to have moral rights to it – allowing her to object to the way it is being used.

The paintings, she said, “are transcendental and sacred to Hilma. If we respect Hilma, we must respect them as such.”