After a long day of meetings in New York this week I rushed across town to catch the last half hour at the museum, where a soul-stirring exhibit of Hilma af Klint’s botanical drawings is on display. 

At first these appear as lovely but innocuous scientific sketches, each leaf and petal carefully depicted with small neat labeling. But look a little closer and we see companion images tucked around the flowers, geometric forms echoing the natural patterns. Look closer still and museum labels note the artist’s accompanying text, such as this passage for the sunflower:

Love is the greatest of all. 

From love originates always the power

to overcome hostility to God.

Wait, what?

Whether the exhibit reveals spiritual epiphany or artistic quirk, I am mesmerized, transported far from the stock tickers and business discussions that crowded the day.

Dear ones, 

On our most hectic days,

may we sprint to the museum.

May we be captivated, 

stirred and stilled by mystery. 

Images from Hilma af Klint: What Stands Behind the Flowers, and related MoMA exhibit.