How Janteloven silenced the first female abstract artist

Svanen (The Swan) by Hilma Af Klint, No. 17, Group 9, Series SUW, October 1914 – March 1915

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Hilma Af Klint was an abstract Swedish artist and one of the first women accepted into the Royal Academy of Art in Stockholm. Her specifically abstract art predates the work of abstract “pioneers” Kandinsky and Mondrian, but the code of Janteloven, known as “Jantelagen” in Sweden, effectively stifled much of her creative expression.

Hilma Af Klint

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In “The Law Of Jante: How A Swedish Cultural Principle Drives Ikea, Ericsson And Volvo, And Beat The Financial Crisis,” Christopher Harress, referring to Klint, writes that, “The art world provides other anecdotal evidence of the personal, professional and economic power of Jante.”

You'll remember that Janteloven / Jantelagen is a set of 10 oppressive social “laws” that punish achievement and individuality:

1. You shall not believe that you are someone.
2. You shall not believe that you are as good as we are.
3. You shall not believe that you are any wiser than we are.
4. You shall never indulge in the conceit of imagining that you are better than we are.
5. You shall not believe that you know more than we do.
6. You shall not believe that you are more important than we are.
7. You shall not believe that you are going to amount to anything.
8. You shall not laugh at us.
9. You shall not believe that anyone cares about you.
10. You shall not believe that you can teach us anything.

(An introduction to the basics can be found here: The Danish social code of Janteloven.)

Harress continues, “Klint was told in her mid-20s that her work would never be fully understood in her lifetime... Many young people today might defy such negative messages, but Klint took it to heart and subsequently never showed her work to anyone, and she even stated in her will that she didn’t want her extensive body of abstract work shown to anyone. She died in 1944, leaving behind more than a thousand pieces of stunning abstract art. In 1970, her work was offered to the Moderna Museum in Stockholm, which declined the donation.” (emphasis added)

It's easy to recognize that the concept of ground-breaking abstract art might be seen to violate Jante Law #10 - You shall not believe that you can teach us anything - but personally, Klint seems to have both experienced and resigned herself to Jante Law #7, that she should not believe that her work would amount to anything.

Eventually, though, Klint's work found an international audience, free of the achievement-punishing attitudes in Scandinavia, and has since earned a broader international acclaim. Her art was recently featured at the Guggenheim and an article on her life accompanied the exhibit, published in the Guggenheim blog.