Altarpiece n.º 1

Context: after nine years working on The Paintings for the Temple, Hilma closes the series with three paintings she considers its culmination. They are the Altarpieces, meant to preside over the altar of a spiral temple that was never built. This earring takes the first of the three.

Interpretation: its structure is almost architectural. A golden circle at the top as the source of radiance, and descending from it a triangle that narrows band by band, from earthly red to the purest white. It is a diagram of ascent, rising from the ground in search of the light.

Technique: we replicate that same logic in volume, building the piece from stacked layers — each smaller than the last — joined by visible links. It begins with an element intended for an altar nearly two metres high and fits it to the palm of a hand without losing its essence or its direction. Upwards. Always upwards.

Source: Altarpiece, n.º 1, Group X, 1915.