Bukowskis has been given the prestigious assignment to auction an abstract work by one of the art world's most legendary and talked-about artists in recent years. Swedish artist Hilma af Klint's painting Ser III No. 5 will be sold at Bukowskis' Modern Art & Design live auction on November 18-19, 2026, with an estimate of SEK 6-8 million (about $620,000-$820,000).
Few artists have garnered as much attention in the last decade as Hilma af Klint. When her art filled one of the world's leading museums, The Guggenheim in New York in 2018-2019, the museum broke all previous attendance records.
That exhibition, Hilma af Klint: Paintings for the Future, had an enormous impact at a time when art history was being rewritten to include previously excluded female artists.
Although paintings by Hilma af Klint rarely appear at auction, those that do are almost exclusively her earlier paintings. These auctioned works were painted in a more classical style with motifs of landscapes, flowers, and portraits. It is extremely rare for an abstract work by the Swedish art pioneer to reach the open market.
Her artistry grew at the intersection of spirituality, science, philosophy, and artistic form, where geometric shapes, symbols, and color fields came to convey ideas beyond the imaginary.
See also: Hilma af Klint: The Non-Figurative Pioneer
Many museums are looking to add an abstract work by Hilma af Klint to their collections, especially after the art historical canon was revised a number of years ago when her painting style was compared to Wassily Kandinsky, who who was considered one of the world's first abstract artists. New information has shown that the two rather inspired each other, but that Hilma af Klint is considered the first with her expressive style of abstract painting.
The painting that is for sale has been shown in exhibitions in Los Angeles, Chicago, The Hague, Stockholm's Moderna Museet, and Gothenburg Museum of Art during the 1990s, among other places.
The majority of Hilma af Klint's abstract and non-figurative works are today managed by the Hilma af Klint Foundation. The painting Ser III No. 5 remained in the artist's possession until her death and was then inherited by her nephew, who donated it to the foundation in 1972. In the early 1990s, the foundation sold a few works, including Ser III No. 5, which was sold in 1995 through Galleri Söderlund in Stockholm to a private collector. Since then, the painting has been passed down within the same family, who are now offering it at auction.
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In recent years, there has been an ongoing debate, which has become a media series, about whether the foundation should sell her art, including the flagship works that have toured several of the world's leading museums in recent decades. However, this work was sold by the foundation long before the current debate.
See also: Hilma af Klint’s Legacy Caught in a Bitter Power Struggle
Personally, I look forward to the day the state or some private actor finances a museum of her art, the temple she herself wished her art would be displayed in. Or that her collection becomes part of the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, which would make Stockholm one of the world's most exciting art destinations.
Only two abstract works by Hilma af Klint have previously been sold at auction, but both were auctioned more than 30 years ago, long before Hilma af Klint had her huge breakthrough and long after her death. But now it is time for a third abstract work by the legendary artist to take its place in the auction room.
Expectations are high, and collectors and museums around the world should be lining up on Thursday, November 19, when the hammer falls at Bukowskis in Berzelii Park in Stockholm.
