The Art of Abdul Mati Klarwein

Abdul Mati Klarwein is probably best know as the painter who created the album cover art for Santana’s Abraxas, and for the album that defined fusion jazz, Bitches Brew by Miles Davis, both of which were released in 1970. This was my first exposure to his work—I recall spending hours looking at the cover of Abraxas as I played that record again and again.


Annunciation, 1961 (cover art for Abraxas)

I first discovered Klarwein’s art as a larger body of work, however, a couple years later. I had the good fortune to be visiting a friend of mine one day; he showed me a book of Klarwein’s art, titled Milk n’ Honey. I totally flipped over this work, and have been a huge fan ever since.

Klarwein was a “visionary”/surrealist painter who possessed an extremely high level of technical skill. In the second half of the twentieth century, the mainstream of the art world was focused mainly on abstract and/or conceptual art. Because Klarwein’s art happened to be on some album covers, and because he ignored the prevailing trends of modernism, Klarwein was considered by the art establishment to be “just” a commercial artist or “psychedelic” artist, and was as a result rejected and ignored. Unfortunately, this situation still exists for the most part.

You will probably never see Klarwein’s work in an art history class, and although a few books featuring his work have been published over the years, sadly, they are all out of print.

(click on images below for larger size)


Still Life with Sugar and Nuts, 1956


Artist and Model, 1959


St. John #1, 1962


Astral Body Asleep, 1968


Astral Body Awake, 1969


Bellini Family, 1973


Elanore Ananda, 1975


Wet Curve, 1981


Soundscape, 1982


Laure Klkarwein, 1986


Camouflage, 1987

There is some excellent information on Klarwein at wikipedia, and there is a beautiful website featuring a ton of his work, more info, and quotes from Klarwein himself. I you like his art, I strongly suggest you check it out.

What does it say about the art world that it was immune to its [Klarewein’s art] clear and present beauty? – musician Jon Hassell