The drawings in this first volume of a new catalogue raisonné represent an intense ten-year period of Hilma af Klint's (1862-1944) life that would lay the foundation for her later achievements. In 1896, af Klint and four other women formed 'The Five', a group steeped in the spiritualist beliefs permeating Europe at that time, including theosophy, Rosicrucianism and other strains of liberal religious thought. From 1896 to 1907, The Five engaged in a daily systematic method of spiritual experimentation. During séances, Hilma af Klint drew automatic spiritual sketches based on the messages that the medium (not always the same member) communicated from the spirits the group summoned. The elaborate system of symbols, geometry and biological imagery that characterise her work all find their origin during this period.

At an early age, Hilma af Klint developed an interest in spiritualism - a religious inclination and philosophical outlook that constituted an important part of the European zeitgeist in the second half of the nineteenth century. Together with four other women, she was part of the group The Five. The members of the group acted as mediums and believed that they received messages from the spirit world. In this first volume of Hilma af Klint's Catalogue Raisonné, the fifteen sketchbooks they produced between 1895 and 1910 are presented. Together, they constitute an important starting point for Hilma af Klint's abstract painting and provide a background to what would later lead to her most important series: The Paintings for the Temple.