Book Yves Klein

The painter who invented a blue

In the mid-1950s, Yves Klein (1928–1962) took the art world by storm, declaring: “A new world requires a new human being.” His idiosyncratic style and tremendous charisma gave his short career extraordinary momentum: in just seven years, he produced over 1,000 paintings that are now considered classics of modern art.

Klein made a name for himself primarily with large monochrome canvases in a special shade of blue that he patented. International Klein Blue, consisting of pure pigment and binder, is rich and luminous, profound and decorative at the same time. The artist wanted to evoke the immateriality and infinity of the world.

Klein was also known as a pioneer of daring painting techniques. For example, he used "living brushes," naked women drenched in International Klein Blue who left imprints of their bodies on large sheets of paper. These so-called Anthropométries were often performed as elaborate performances, accompanied by blue cocktails and Klein's composition Monotone Symphony.