Yves Klein at 93: 10 Key Works from IKB to Fire Paintings
Yves Klein was born on April 28, 1928, in Nice to artist parents. By the age of 25, he had achieved a black belt in judo and passed away at 34 in 1962. A pioneer of monochrome painting, Klein significantly impacted the pop art movement. In November 1954, he released Yves Peintures. His commitment to the color blue was evident when he displayed 11 identical blue canvases at Galleria Apollinaire in 1957. He developed International Klein Blue (IKB) and celebrated it with 1001 blue balloons at Galerie Iris Clert. In 1958, his installation Le Vide drew 3000 visitors. Klein utilized nude women as 'living brushes' for Anthropometries and sold Zones of Immaterial Pictorial Sensibility from 1959 to 1962. In 1961, he created Fire Paintings, and his Blue Obelisk was later installed in Paris in 1983.
Key facts
- Yves Klein was born April 28, 1928 in Nice.
- He died in 1962 at age 34.
- He was a fourth-degree black belt in judo by age 25.
- IKB (International Klein Blue) was patented via a 'bouteille Soleau'.
- The 1957 Milan exhibition at Galleria Apollinaire featured 11 identical blue canvases.
- In 1958, Le Vide at Galerie Iris Clert was an empty white room with blue accents.
- Anthropometries used nude women as 'living brushes'.
- The Monotone Symphony (1949) consists of a single repeated note.
- Zones of Immaterial Pictorial Sensibility involved selling empty space for gold.
- Leap into the Void (1961) is a photomontage mocking NASA.
- Klein placed an ex-voto at Santa Rita in Cascia in 1961.
- He painted plaster casts of Nike of Samothrace and Venus de Milo in IKB.
- The Blue Obelisk was installed posthumously in 1983 at Place de la Concorde.
Entities
Artists
- Yves Klein
- Pierre Restany
Institutions
- Galleria Apollinaire
- Galerie Iris Clert
- Monastery of Santa Rita
- Nouveau Réalisme
- NASA
- Artribune
Locations
- Nice
- France
- Milan
- Italy
- Paris
- Anversa
- Belgium
- Cascia
- Gelsenkirchen
- Germany
- Place de la Concorde