Yves Klein

Yves Klein

Yves Klein is a French artist born in Nice on April 28, 1928 and died in Paris on July 6, 1962. Coming from a family of artists, he is not destined to be an artist and studies to become an officer in the merchant navy. From 1948 to 1952, he made many trips in Europe but especially in Japan where he developed a passion for judo and obtained the rank of black belt 4th dan. In 1955, he even started his own judo school which closed down a year later due to financial difficulties. Self-taught artist, he began to paint monochromes from the late 1940s.

In 1956, he created the International Klein Blue (IKB), the famous «Klein Blue», a shade representing according to him the most perfect expression of blue. In the same year, his reputation began to grow thanks to the exhibition «Yves, Propositions monochromes» in Paris. Then he presents «Proposte monochrome, epoca blu» in Milan, an exhibition of eleven identical blue paintings. 

Becoming world-renowned, he is considered one of the fathers of New Realism with Arman and Pierre Restany. He subsequently experimented with several techniques, including the «living brushes» where models covered with paint are applied directly on the canvas to create the work during a public performance.