Tyra Kleen - A Constant Searcher

Towards the end of the 19th century, new spiritualist movements were flourishing in Europe and Sweden, especially among middle- and upper-class intellectuals, who were largely influenced by the progressive and open-minded ideals of modernity. This exhibition portrays an individual who was at the heart of these tendencies. The artist Tyra Kleen was a noblewoman who joined the Theosophical Society in Rome, attended seances in Paris and initiated exorcisms at her home in Lidingö.

Tyra Kleen (1874–1951) studied at various art schools in both Germany and France. She was influenced by artists and poets such as Arnold Böcklin, Edgar Allan Poe and Charles Baudelaire, and is grouped among the symbolists who explored myths and dreamlike states in her works. Thanks to her father’s profession as a diplomat, Tyra and her siblings spent long periods abroad and learned several languages. Her childhood lay the foundations for a lifestyle as a globetrotter, or, in her own words: “[I am] a vagabond by birth and inveterate habit.”

Egypt, India and Sri Lanka were among the countries Tyra Kleen visited by train and boat. Sometimes, she was away from Europe for years. This was long before the age of mass tourism. What drove her? A thirst for knowledge and an inquisitive mind, of course, but more importantly, an interest in religious and spiritual questions.

Photographs, colourful illustrations and symbol-laden lithographs tell the story of the constant searcher Tyra Kleen.

Tyra Kleen - A Constant Searcher is produced by Norrköpings Konstmuseum and curated by curator Helena Scragg in dialogue with Karin Ström Lehander, senior lecturer at Linköping University and PhD candidate in art history at Åbo Akademi University.