Altarpiece - No 1 - Group X

As the final pieces for the Paintings of the Temple cycle of works, Af Klint produced three large Altarpieces. Looking back to an earlier golden age (and forwards to another one), the painting brings to mind an Egyptian temple, which using a highly developed intuitive intelligence, was built in line with the rising and setting sun. The 'pyramid' is an equilateral triangle divided into rainbow building block sections, with a run of oval discs adding more stability as a spine down the center. The 'sun' rises above, and all of the saturated, highly colored shapes are set against a black background. Each one of these broad spectra of colors has symbolic meaning within Theosophical and Anthroposophical spiritualist theory. Furthermore, the triangle is an ancient symbol which "points towards enlightenment, connecting the material and the spiritual worlds," as suggested by the Serpentine Pavilion's description of the work.