Yves Klein French, 1928-1962
Overview
Table IKB (Blue), 1961
Yves Klein was a pioneering French artist best known for his bold experiments with color, space, and immateriality. Though his career was tragically short—he died at just 34—Klein left an outsized mark on postwar art and is considered a key figure in the development of performance art, conceptual art, and minimalism.
The most iconic of Yves Klein’s table sculptures is the Table Bleue, featuring his signature International Klein Blue (IKB) pigment. Encased beneath a glass surface, the vivid blue powder creates a mesmerizing, almost otherworldly effect—appearing both infinite and boundless. The intense, velvety hue gives the piece a striking sense of depth and visual energy, embodying the essence of Klein’s artistic legacy.
Biography
Table IKB (Blue), 1961
Klein is most famous for creating and patenting International Klein Blue (IKB), a deep, ultramarine hue that became his artistic signature. He used it in monochrome paintings, sculptures, and even live performances, where he had nude models apply IKB to their bodies and imprint themselves on canvases—works he called Anthropometries.
His practice extended beyond the visual: he was fascinated by ideas of the infinite and the void. In 1958, he famously exhibited an entirely empty gallery titled The Void at Galerie Iris Clert in Paris, inviting viewers to contemplate pure space.
Klein’s radical vision bridged the spiritual and the physical, the visible and the invisible, influencing generations of artists after him. Despite his brief life, his legacy remains foundational to contemporary art.
Works
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Table IKB (Blue), 1961
Press
