Lessons in #Monochrome: The Power of Color by way of Yves Klein
Born in 1928, French artist and key figure in post-war European art, Yves Klein was a leading member of the Nouveau réalisme movement.
🌎 Known worldwide for his signature IKB (International Klein Blue), this striking blue was invented by him and used in his artworks ~ although interestingly enough, it was never patented. Made from dry ultramarine pigment and clear synthetic resin, during his Blue Period, he created more than 200 monochrome works that explored the vibrant shade in different ways 🌊 Klein believed that IKB was the perfect instrument with which to elaborate his belief in spiritual powers and the immaterial.
Ultramarine is the traditional symbolic color of the Holy Ghost in Christian religion and also evokes the expanse of the infinite sky and the depth of the oceans. He adopted this hue as a means of evoking the immateriality and boundlessness of his own particular utopian vision of the world.
🇪🇸 A virtual jetset to @galeriacayon for a dive into this Yves Klein.
🪨 In the 1960s, Klein became fascinated by natural elements and created a series of fire paintings, monochromatic relief paintings, and IKB sculptures that expressed cosmological ideas of infinite space. For Klein, space represented a vast infinity in which he took great interest - he felt canvases, sculptures and objects covered in monochrome colors worked best to awaken our awareness of the infinite.
His first and last works were only 15 years apart, a life cut tragically short as he passed at 34 years young; his iconic works continue to influence global communities of artists and designers.
🗣 The British artist Michael Craig-Martin summed up the charisma of these paintings: “The power of a single blue painting to stay in ones imagination for ones lifetime, that’s quite something. Once you see an Yves Klein painting, you’ll never forget it.” // #emotifIcons #emotifExplores