Modern Theosophy has had considerable influence on the work of visual artists, particularly painters. Artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, and Luigi Russolo chose Theosophy as the main ideological and philosophical basis of their work.
Theosophical colour mysticism
The Theosophical teaching on the human aura was elaborated by Charles W. Leadbeater and Rudolf Steiner in early 1900s. Both Leadbeater and Steiner stated that "clairvoyants" are gifted of seeing so-called "thought-forms" and "human auras." They have also written that the "impressions" received by such people from the "higher worlds" are similar with the "colour phenomena observed in the physical world."
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke pointed out that Annie Besant in collaboration with Leadbeater has also published an "influential book" titled Thought-Forms, a record of clairvoyant investigation. The frontispieces of both Thought-Forms and contain a table "The meanings of colours" of thought-forms and human aura associated with feelings and emotions, beginning with "High Spirituality" (light blue—in the upper left corner) and ending by "Malice" (black—in the lower right corner), 25 colors in all. According to Besant and Leadbeater, feelings and thoughts shape specific forms, for example, "lightning-like shapes" emerge in connection with "anger" and "malice," zig-zag lines show fear etc.
Thus, thanks to Besant, with Leadbeater and Steiner, the "Theosophical colour mysticism", as Sixten Ringbom has formulated, became a subject in which modern artists have been particularly interested. In addition, they were attracted by the Theosophical concept of a "universal harmony underlying the apparent chaos" of the physical world.
Theosophists as artists Blavatsky
Helena Blavatsky (1831–1891) had a developed gift for drawing, "but no pretensions as an artist." Massimo Introvigne wrote that "the first of a long list of Theosophical painters was none other than Madame Blavatsky herself." Paul Weinzweig spoke about her as "a completely cultured woman in the renaissance ideal." He noted that Blavatsky was a "scientist, poet, pianist, painter, philosopher, writer, educator."
Machell
Reginald Willoughby Machell (1854–1927) was educated first at Uppingham School, then at Owen's College, having taken "many prizes in drawing and also in the classics." At last, he was sent to study in Paris at the Académie Julian. In 1880, he returned to London and worked as a portrait painter. In 1893, he was elected a member of the Royal Society of British Artists. He created also illustrations to the books An Idol's Passion (1895) and The Chant of a Lonely Soul (1897) by an American novelist Irene Osgood.
In 1887, Machell was introduced to Blavatsky herself by a friend of one of his aunts. In 1888, he joined the Theosophical Society. His paintings began to obtain a mystical and symbolist character. It may be related with such his works as Dweller on the Threshold, The Birth of the Planet, and Lead Kindly Light. Machell's Theosophical art had its "triumph" in The Path (1895). He described this painting as follows: THE PATH is the way by which the human soul must pass it its evolution to full spiritual self-consciousness. The supreme condition is suggested in this work by the great figure whose head in the upper triangle is lost in the glory of the Sun above, and whose feet are in the lower triangle in the waters of Space, symbolizing Spirit and Matter. His wings fill the middle region representing the motion or pulsation of cosmic life, while within the octagon are displayed the various planes of consciousness, through which humanity must rise to attain a perfect Manhood. At the top is a winged Isis, the Mother or Oversoul whose wings veil the face of the Supreme from those below. There is a circle dimly seen of celestial figures who hail with joy the triumph of a new initiate, one who has reached to the heart of the Supreme. From that point he looks back with compassion upon all who still are wandering below and turns to go down again to their help as a Saviour of Men. Below him is the red ring of the guardians who strike down those who have not the "password," symbolized by the white flame floating over the head of the purified aspirant. Two children, representing purity, pass up unchallenged. In the centre of the picture is a warrior who has slain the dragon of illusion, the dragon of the lower self, and is now prepared to cross the gulf by using the body of the dragon as his bridge (for we rise on steps made of conquered weaknesses, the slain dragon of the lower nature). His painting Vision of the New Day continues a theme of The Path. The New Day is a symbol of enlightenment, which the human soul can achieve, avoiding the temptations of materialism.
In 1900, Machell moved to the United States and joined the Theosophical community at Point Loma established by Katherine Tingley.
Schmiechen
Hermann Schmiechen (1855–1923) joined the Theosophical Society in London on 20 June 1884. And, fulfilling the request of Blavatsky, he began to paint portraits of the Theosophical Masters. The portrait of the Master Koot Hoomi she assessed as "excellent" and immediately asked Schmiechen to begin working on a portrait of the Master Morya. It took him about three weeks, to complete these paintings. Some authors believe that Schmichen's work was a kind of "psychic experiment", and images of the Masters were transmitted to him telepathically. In Introvigne's opinion, the most significant portraits of the mahatmas "in Theosophical history" were painted by Schmiechen.
Brendan French made examination these portraits and, according to his conclusions, he stated that Schmiechen appears to have been significantly influenced by the Venetian cinquecento, in particular by the deceptive tranquillity of Titian's portraiture; equally, he seems to be enamoured of Rembrandt's psychologically-pregnant portraits... That the Masters' portraits should resonate with Christological overtones is hardly surprising. Schmiechen, like most Western artists concerned to invest their images with qualities of transcendence, turned for inspiration to the foundational iconographical type of divine-human hypostasis, the Biblical Christ. The iconic potentialities of a Christ portrait were imported by Schmiechen into his own depiction of semi-divinised men, the Masters. Indeed, he employed several standard devices: an undifferentiated background; over-large, staring eyes; a frontal composition designed to focus attention directly upon the subject's confronting gaze; a sense of sagacity heightened by indications of the sitter's self-possession; no distracting detail in vestment or jewellery; and a framing of the features by long hair and a beard.
Klint
Hilma af Klint (1862–1944) "experimented with automatic drawing in a Spiritualist setting." She joined the Theosophical Society Adyar on May 23, 1904. In 1920, af Klint became a member of the Anthroposophical Society and began "spending long periods in Dornach." The Theosophical and Anthroposophical ideas were a source of the inspiration for many of her paintings. She painted "several series of impressive paintings exploring spiritual or sacred concepts". Her unique style united, in Tessel Bauduin's opinion, "geometric and biomorphic form with a free line". Af Klint considered abstract art to be the "spiritual precursor of a utopian social harmony, a world of tomorrow." According to Introvigne, only recently, after several exhibitions in different countries, she was recognized as an important European abstract artist.
Fuller
Florence Fuller (1867–1946) joined the Theosophical Society in 1905. In the same year, she created A Golden Hour "widely regarded as a national Australian masterpiece." From 1908 to 1911 in Adyar, she painted portraits of the leaders of the Theosophical Society and the Theosophical Masters.
In Adyar, Fuller created an "unknown number" of portraits of the mahatmas, including the Lord Buddha. Of these, only a portrait of the Master Buddha has been published. In Brendan French's opinion, this portrait illustrates reducing "sex characteristics, and thus appear androgynous." He argued this is "founded in Renaissance angelology." According to McFarlane, Fuller chose the colors for this painting in full accordance with the Theosophical canon expounded in Thought-Forms by Besant and Leadbeater.
Mondrian
In the early 1900s, Piet Mondrian (1872–1944) had read the Theosophical literature with great interest, including by Édouard Schuré. He joined the Dutch Section of the TS in 1909. As Carel Blotkamp stated, "It is abundantly clear that Theosophy was of crucial importance to Mondrian."
Michel Seuphor wrote that Mondrian's religion "went from Calvinism to Theosophy and from Theosophy to Neoplasticism," that had included Theosophy and became his main world-view. Mondrian believed that his neoplastic concept should in the "most objective and rational way possible transmit" the Theosophical idea of the Absolute. In his opinion, the neoplastic art will in future replace religion. And artist's role – "as priest of this religious art – will consist in helping the common man reach the desired after inner balance."
Mondrian chose for his "monumental triptych" Evolution, a theme which is one of the main doctrines in the Theosophical teaching. According to Robert Welsh, the blue and yellow colors used in the work can be explained as astral "shells or radiations" of the figures. Can be thought that these personages take part in the Theosophical initiation. However, one should examine them as the same person "viewed in three complementary aspects." If go in the order "left, right, and center," we have a standard mystical advancement "from matter through soul to spirit." In Isis Unveiled, Blavatsky wrote: Three spirits live and actuate man, teaches Paracelsus; three worlds pour their beams upon him; but all three only as the image and echo of one and the same all-constructing and uniting principle of production. The first is the spirit of the elements (terrestrial body and vital force in its brute condition); the second, the spirit of the stars (sidereal or astral body—the soul); the third is the Divine spirit (Augoeidés).
Roerich
Nicholas Roerich (1874–1947) and his wife Helena created Agni Yoga, a "Theosophically inspired form of esotericism." This "neo-Theosophical" doctrine was first explained in 1929. Introvigne designated the Roerichs' doctrine as a "Theosophical schism." According to Joscelyn Godwin, Roerich was "probably the most thoroughly Theosophical of 20th-century painters, although opinions of his merit vary."
Artists and Theosophy Kandinsky
Even before 1910, Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944) studied the Theosophical books of Blavatsky, Besant and Leadbeater, Steiner, and Schuré. In 1912, he wrote in his main theoretical work Über das Geistige in der Kunst on the importance of Theosophy "for his art". According to Boris Falikov, Theosophy helped Kandinsky conceptually to comprehend creative and spiritual experiences, which, as he understood, "more and more merged into a single whole." The works by Blavatsky, Steiner, and their like-minded people helped him not only to conceptualize his experience, but also to formulate his own mission, which combined the artistic and religious dimension. He comprehended that he was an active participant in the turn to the spiritual world about which "Theosophy prophesied."
In his treatise, Kandinsky stated that Blavatsky began "one of the greatest spiritual movements which unites a great number of people and which also has established a material form of this spiritual phenomenon in the Theosophical Society." He presented a long quotation from Blavatsky's book The Key to Theosophy: