The unlikely discovery was made at the beginning of the summer by Johannes Lundberg, curator at the Botanical Unit of the museum. It consists of six watercolors and one ink drawing, made by the artist Hilma af Klint on commission from the mycologist Matts Lindblad. The illustrations were never published anywhere and the whole thing fell into oblivion.
Not signed
But then the Natural History Museum was contacted by Lena Struwe at Rutgers University in the USA, who was preparing an upcoming exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (Moma) in New York featuring Hilma af Klint's works. She wondered about three mushroom illustrations that were said to be in the museum's possession.
After much searching, Johannes Lundberg found the works in a box for plant storage. They are not signed, but Matts Lindblad has noted that they are by Hilma af Klint's hand.
"It's so fun that we get a chance to show them to the public here at the museum. They are seven fine illustrations of mushrooms. Very beautiful, I think, even if not as spectacular as her spiritual and abstract artworks", says Johannes Lundberg in a press release.
On display in New York
The seven works will be on display from December 11 to February in the entrance hall of the Natural History Museum and from May 11 at Moma in New York in the exhibition "Hilma af Klint: What stands behind flowers". There, they will be joined by 46 additional botanical illustrations by the artist.
Hilma af Klint died in 1944 and did not have her breakthrough until more than fifty years after her death, when some of her abstract works were exhibited in 1986. In 2018, the Guggenheim Museum in New York exhibited her works, and since then, books, documentaries, and a TV series signed by Lasse Hallström have been made.
