Manyartistsgo through stages where they take inhalation from extremely specific muses . Yves Klein , a Gallic nonobjective creative person work in the mid-20th century , took “ Blue Period ” to a new storey .
Klein worked in black and white — individual colors that he believed give tongue to belief and “ made seeable the absolute,”according tohis official internet site . His works often took the mannequin of objects orcanvasespainted in a single , unwavering nicety of crimson , blue , pink , or gullible .
Klein did n’t just operate with blue — heinventeda version of it . In the forties , he set about paint monochromes with ultramarine , a brilliant blue paint , but grew dissatisfied with the color’stendency to fadeover time . While vacationing in Nice in 1956 , he experimented withadding a polymer binderto the pigment — and fell head over heel in love with what he create . During the rest of his brusk life ( he died of a affection attack in 1962 , at age 34 ) , Klein producednearly 200blue monochromepaintings , believing the color expressedpure energy .

After Klein patented his color as International Klein Blue ( IKB ) in 1960 , he rarely used anything else . He associate IKB with pure quad and an intangible quality that get to beyond anything material — though he used his monochromatic IKB painting to conduct experiments on the material value of artistic creation . In 1957 , Klein paint 11 monovular juicy canvases and mark them at different prices . The sport , he said , speculate the unique spirit each one had . He got the asking Leontyne Price on all of them .
Klein ’s obsession with the deep shade did n’t end atpaint on sail ; he also used the hue in unlawful ways . He oncereleased1001 blue helium balloons to exsert the colouring ’s vibes to everyone in Paris , and liked to recreateclassic sculptureslike theVenus de Milowith an IKB gadget . In 1960 , Klein represent a piece of execution art in which bare modelscovered themselvesin IKB blusher , then pressed their body part to canvases .
Even if you ’re not an Yves Klein fan , IKB may band some a pop civilisation bell for you . Here ’s why :

The Blue Man Group is Yves Klein Blue . It ’s more than just their color — their collective persona is partly based around Klein ’s work . According toex - Blue Man Isaac Eddy , “ The Blue Man is reflecting the interview itself and the Blue Man is summon by the interview itself … Put more merely , you could reckon of it as the color blue . It ’s cased off that Yves Klein Blue . That vivid , bright cobalt that he produce himself , and that he covered [ a serial publication of object and paintings ] with and nothing else . So the concept is that we come forth from a painting like that . ”
Something say us Yves Klein would be pleased .
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A edition of this narrative was publish in 2017 ; it has been update for 2024 .