John Yau reviews works by Hilma af Klint on view in The Keeper at the New Museum, New York, through September 25, 2016.

Yau concludes by noting a “reason she is so important is that she believes in painting: it could put her in touch with something that lies beyond appearances. It could show us something we hadn’t seen before, something we needed to see. And yet, whatever her motivation, the paintings exceed her, become something more than anything she might have imagined. Isn’t that the dream?”