tintame Early access

Shop

Hilma af Klint prints

Hilma af Klint (1862–1944) was a Swedish painter who made large abstract paintings years before the artists usually credited with inventing abstraction. For most of her life she showed this work to almost no one, and asked that it stay private for decades after her death. When it was finally shown to the world, it changed how the history of modern art is told.

Our Hilma af Klint prints come from The Ten Largest, the 1907 series she painted in about two months: ten canvases over three metres tall that follow a life from childhood to old age. The Youth paintings glow orange with pink and blue forms; Adulthood is lilac and gold. Each print shows the whole composition, on 200 g matte fine art paper, with or without a frame.

Because the originals are so large, these works hold up at big sizes. A single 70×100 cm print carries a wall above a sofa or a bed; two 50×70 cm prints of No. 3 and No. 4 make a matched pair.

Questions

Is it legal to sell prints of Hilma af Klint?

Yes. Hilma af Klint died in 1944, so in the EU and the UK her paintings have been in the public domain since 1 January 2015, seventy years after her death. The image files we print from are released as public domain on Wikimedia Commons. This describes our own prints, not other uses of her work.

What is The Ten Largest?

A series of ten paintings from 1907, each about 3.3 metres tall, in which af Klint followed a life from childhood to old age in colour and form. We print three of them: No. 3 and No. 4 (Youth) and No. 7 (Adulthood).

Are Hilma af Klint's paintings in the public domain?

Yes, in Sweden and the EU. Hilma af Klint died in 1944, and copyright in the EU lasts 70 years after the artist's death, so her works entered the public domain in 2015.

Which size should I choose?

For a single print above a sofa, aim for about two thirds of the sofa's width; for a 200 cm sofa that is a 70×100 cm print or two 50×70 cm prints side by side. Our guide to art above a sofa has the full rule.