
Yves Klein
La terre bleue, 1957
This work is sold by a private individual and ships from Megève, Switzerland
Conceived in 1957, …

Yves Klein is best known for his trademark ultramarine pigment, which he patented as International Klein Blue in 1961. “Blue…is beyond dimensions, whereas the other colors are not,” he said. “All colors arouse specific ideas, while blue suggests at most the sea and the sky; and they, after all, are in actual, visible nature what is most abstract.” Starting in the mid-1950s, Klein made retinal blue monochromes (which would prove cornerstones of Minimalism) and the pigment would also feature prominently in his Anthropometry paintings, for which Klein smeared nude women with blue pigment and used them as human brushes on canvas, sometimes in elaborate public performances. Klein's work anticipated Conceptual art, Performance art, and environmental art, as in his selling of portions of empty space to collectors. For The Void (1958), he presented an empty gallery as an artwork, wearing a white tie and tails to show visitors around the blank walls.

This work is sold by a private individual and ships from Megève, Switzerland
Conceived in 1957, this work is a posthumous edition published in 1990 by Galerie Bonnier, Geneva
Condition report: The work is in good condition overall; the pigment is vivid and intact; please note this work is affixted to a plexiglass …

Yves Klein is best known for his trademark ultramarine pigment, which he patented as International Klein Blue in 1961. “Blue…is beyond dimensions, whereas the other colors are not,” he said. “All colors arouse specific ideas, while blue suggests at most the sea and the sky; and they, after all, are in actual, visible nature what is most abstract.” Starting in the mid-1950s, Klein made retinal blue monochromes (which would prove cornerstones of Minimalism) and the pigment would also feature prominently in his Anthropometry paintings, for which Klein smeared nude women with blue pigment and used them as human brushes on canvas, sometimes in elaborate public performances. Klein's work anticipated Conceptual art, Performance art, and environmental art, as in his selling of portions of empty space to collectors. For The Void (1958), he presented an empty gallery as an artwork, wearing a white tie and tails to show visitors around the blank walls.