Ateneum Art Museum Explores Esotericism In Northern Women's Art

(MENAFN- USA Art News) The Ateneum Art Museum, part of the Finnish National Gallery, will soon open a major exhibition titled Arcana Borealis-Northern Women and Esotericism. This show examines the history of modern art through the lens of women artists who intertwined spirituality and esotericism in their work. It also delves into the nature of artistic networks and challenges established art historical narratives, according to the museum.

Curated by Dr. Nina Kokkinen and Dr. Marja Lahelma, the exhibition features over 200 works by 50 artists. These pieces broaden perspectives on women's creative practices, which were often guided by belief systems, ecology, and imagination. The curators aim to challenge“art historical narratives that have privileged the myth of the lone artistic genius,” the museum stated, instead emphasizing collaboration and spiritual communities.

Among the notable artists featured are early 20th-century figures like Hilma af Klint and Anna Cassel, alongside Anna-Eva Bergman, Maja Fjaestad, Sonja Ferlov Mancoba, and contemporary artist Outi Pieski. Hilma af Klint, who lived in Stockholm around 1906, created abstract paintings born from mystic visions and a deep engagement with Christian esotericism. Art historians now recognize these as the first known abstract works, predating those previously attributed to Wassily Kandinsky around 1910. Af Klint did not view her vibrant paintings strictly as artworks but as products of spiritual channeling, a period that also coincided with significant scientific discoveries such as Nikola Tesla's development of AC electricity and radio transmissions, and Einstein's“miracle year” of 1905 with his theory of relativity.

The exhibition includes paintings, sculpture, textiles, stained glass, and video. It highlights collaborations, such as that between Cassel and af Klint, who were part of The Five, a Stockholm-based group of women exploring spiritual realms through séances and meditation. Contemporary artist Outi Pieski also demonstrates collaboration in her performance“Guhte gullá / Here to Hear,” created with dancers and choreographers Biret and Gáddjá Haarla Pieski. This performance draws on their Sámi heritage and incorporates traditional garments, addressing the trauma of state-sponsored assimilation programs and centuries of discrimination against the Indigenous Sámi people of Norway, Sweden, and Finland.

The title Arcana Borealis combines the Latin words for“hidden knowledge” (arcana) and“the north” (borealis). The museum explains that the show“approaches 'the North' as a cross-border cultural and imaginative space shaped by mythology and spiritual traditions.” It traces how artists from Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and Sápmi utilized esotericism, alternative cosmologies, meditation, and mediumistic practices to explore existence, creativity, and belonging. The exhibition opens on October 23 and runs through February 28, 2027, in Helsinki.

We previously reported:

Jennifer Higgie's new book explores how women artists, particularly in the 19th and 20th centuries, found empowerment through Spiritualism.

Source: This Is Colossal

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