This is one of those exhibitions where you can feel the tectonic plates of art history shifting. A generation ago, it would have been almost unthinkable. But a steady spate of shows of the Swedish painter Hilma af Klint in Europe, and then a record-breaking blockbuster at the Guggenheim in New York in 2019, have propelled her into the realms of the best-known artists.
And while Mondrian remains a canonic, towering figure in the modernist avant garde — “one of the most famous artistic brands on earth”, as Frances Morris, Tate Modern’s director, puts it — perhaps his popular ubiquity, which saw his squares and rectangles in primary colours and black lines appear on everything from Yves Saint Laurent dresses to l’Oréal hair products, is arguably waning. Which of them, now, is the biggest draw for an audience?
