The Ten Largest, No. 7, Adulthood

A monumental series of 10 paintings depicting life. And no.7 being a life size depiction of adulthood. A muted lavender background with dominant yellow, and scattered green, red, pink, blue and roman numbers and cursive scriptures -- this painting is everything adulthood is molded as. From being a teenager, and becoming an adult, a person goes through a massive transition and also falling into the infinite loop of understanding and figuring out.

The focal yellow object is an infinite loop of going and coming back to square one as an adult. But the yellow loop is also an hour glass. For the first time, a person realises they are running out of time. Not as a child not as a teenager but as an adult. While the irony of perceiving the yellow object as an infinite attempt at comprehending profound life, while realising finite time is left behind, is clearly stated, the object also seems to have two heads and one bottom unlike a regular hourglass or infinity. The vesica piscis (the overlapping of two disks), a sacred geometrical symbol representing the intersection of spirit and matter, or the unification of opposites. Adulthood is when passion kicks in while responsibilities are loaded as well. This geometrical structural play by af Klint with the roman numerals on it makes it an apt depiction of the struggle in the coexistence of structure and free will.

The green spirals with blue undertones to me talk about the earth and sky. How as adults, we are excited sometimes on little wins and are equally grounded by life lessons. It is the adult chaos. The lessons from the ups and lows are added as little crescents of yellow in the green and blue figures. The red flower that is almost like a clover, and a multicolour bud on top of that, is the experiment and success of love, and the vibrance of it. And the black flower is the possibility of heartbreak in the other colours of the bud. And what lies underneath it — the pale blue and pink structures, again with a yellow circle — is the softness that wraps around the growth after having the colourful experiment.

Under the yellow main character is the whimsical touch of a cursive script. The cursive script is one reconnecting with themselves, and taking up the effort to understand oneself. And to the right is white and orange circles intersecting, which is the peace and happiness that comes in the process.

Af Klint had paper rolled out on her floor and painted a series of 10 paintings like that in her studio in a span of months. What must've fueled her to have created something so scholarly? Is it the rift and breakdown of De Fem — her circle of five women spiritualist artists, and her first time working alone without them. Sometimes loneliness is insightful and pulls that rigor in a person. In just eighteen months, she produced 111 works for this project alone, with no preparatory sketch, no time to revive from one painting to another. She was consumed by what she called a "great force." That is simply what adulthood is.