Coming from a family lineage rich in Hollywood history, it's no surprise that Jack Huston has showbiz in his blood. His grandfather was the iconic actor-director John Huston, and the Oscar-winner Anjelica Huston is his aunt. But he’s managed to carve out an industry niche that’s all his own. You might recognize him from playing gangster Richard Harrow in HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, or from his roles in American Hustle and The Irishman. Now, he’s stepping into a new spotlight as a director with his latest project, the drama Day of the Fight.
More: Jack Huston on his directorial debut Day of the Fight (The Treatment, 2025)
For his Treat, Huston dives into his fascination with Hilma af Klint, a Swedish artist-turned-mystic whose story is as intriguing as her art. After a series of séances with four other women artists, Klint retreated into isolation, dedicating all of her time to painting. But her will stipulated that her work — likely among the earliest Western examples of the once nascent abstract art movement — not be shown until years after her death. She maintained that the world simply wasn’t ready to fully grasp her visionary art.
This segment has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Something I've been fascinated by recently, or someone, I should say, was an artist called Hilma af Klint.
She was a Swedish painter who was more of a portrait, sort of landscape artist. She got into something, into these seánces, and she and these other four women called themselves the “five”.
Hilma af Klint, Primordial Chaos, No. 16, The WU/ROSEN Series. Grupp 1, 1906-07. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
They went really deep, so deep that at a certain point they said, ‘Hilma, you're going too far. You're contacting some dark entities.’ Hilma af Klint then goes into reclusion. She lives away, off the grid. Nobody sees her; nobody hears from her. All this time while she's secluded, she's painting, she's painting, and she's contacting this higher entity … no one's allowed to see these paintings. Her nephew was invited, and I think only one critic, one person, came to the house and saw the paintings or saw a very, very small amount of the work she was doing because she was doing some crazy work. She wrote in her will that her work must be hidden from public view because they were not ready for them.
Hilma af Klint, De tio största, nr 3, Ynglingaåldern, grupp IV, 1907. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
I think there's something fascinating that, as an artist, what are you doing but presenting your work? The idea of saying, ‘I can't show you my work because you're not ready’. That's zero ego because it's after death; you will never know what will happen. So there must be something much deeper going on, if that's what you're saying. And I was like, ‘God, that's a real story.’ And I think this work is miraculous. They're huge paintings, abstractions, colors that you've never seen… and you realize she was doing this stuff earlier than all the guys.