Yves Klein – Nouveau Réalisme
Full name: Yves Klein
Place of birth: Nice, France
Training: École des Arts de Nice
Artistic Movement: Nouveau Réalisme
Influences: Japan, spirituality, monochrome, music, expressionism
Artistic Journey
Yves Klein is one of the leading figures of Nouveau Réalisme. After studying arts in Nice, he traveled to Japan where he discovered the concept of space and void, as well as the importance of color in Zen spirituality.
In the 1950s, he developed his artistic signature: the blue monochrome, called International Klein Blue (IKB). He considered color as an emotional and spiritual vehicle, capable of transcending matter. Klein was also a pioneer of performance art, using the human body as a painting tool in his famous Anthropometries, and exploring immaterial art through void and conceptual exhibitions.
Klein collaborated with numerous contemporary artists and has had a lasting influence on contemporary art through his pursuit of the sublimation of color and space.
Major Works
IKB 191 (1962) – Intense blue monochrome, expressing the purity of color.
Anthropometries (1960) – Using female models as living brushes on canvas.
The Void (1958) – Immersive exhibition at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, demonstrating the power of empty space as art.
Gold and Pink Monochromes – Exploration of the effects of color on perception and emotion.
Quote
“Art is alive and must be experienced as an event.”
“Blue has no dimensions, it is beyond dimensions.”
