The Ten Largest, No. 7, Adulthood

Hilma Af Klint

Called by a spiritual power to create 'ten paradisaically beautiful paintings', Hilma Af Klint worked with divine urgency to make this series of work, painting each monumental masterpiece in no more than four days. A total of ten paintings make up the series, each measuring nearly three metres in height, and depicting the four stages of life in order to 'give the world a glimpse' of their future. Trained in mathematics and botany, Klint is widely considered to be the first abstract artists in Western Art History, though she worked throughout her life in secret and died with strict instructions for her paintings not to be shown until a decade after her passing. Her botanical training is clear in her depiction of human experience, the natural forms that make up this study of adulthood ground us in a connection to the organic world. The soft vibrancy of the background provides a field on which relationships occur, forms meet and coalesce, adulthood brings with it unity and calm, dynamism from the joining of two lives.

Monday 26th October

Today we are greeted by the Full Moon, the Hunter’s Moon, in the constellation of Aries. We arrive at a culmination, like the moment when a deep inward breath reaches the threshold of breathing out. Before moving forward, let us take a little time for a Rückschau—a review in reverse. Beginning with this moment, gently move backwards in your mind through the past two weeks, towards the New Moon. Recall moments in the garden, conversations, tasks completed and things left unfinished. Try to let these appear without judging them or rushing to explain them. What has grown during this time? What has asked for your attention, and what have you overlooked? As we pause beneath the fullness of the Moon, allow this quiet looking back to inform what you carry into the next fortnight, and what you are ready to release.