The genesis of Klein blue comes from the memory of a sweet daydream. “In 1946, I was 18 years old. That day, while I was lying down in a square in Nice, I started feeling hatred for the birds that were flying here and there in my beautiful cloudless blue sky, because they were trying to leave marks on the most beautiful and greatest of my artworks.” The perfection, infinity, and symmetry of the sky left Yves Klein with the ever desirable impression of being at total ease. Faced with this unsullied immensity, Yves Klein first decided to take on his monochrome – the exercise would soon become a cult object for him.
He would search, try, fumble around with his brush against the canvas, attempting to drive the creative gesture into oblivion! With attention to equalling the impalpable force of nature, Yves Klein sought pure color. But he didn’t see this as being productive – the artist is not the author of the artwork since beauty already exists, in an invisible state. His quest consisted of grabbing ahold of something rather than creating – gripping it from the air, in fabrics, from the surface of a body… grasping the rapture of contemplation.
Klein blue is what he ended up capturing, the edification of a soothing infinity that is forever inaccessible. He wanted to sign his name beneath the canvas of the sky. After multiple experiments, including an Iris Clert exhibit about the color blue, Yves Klein finally revolutionized art one night in 1958. Then, in May 1960, he copyrighted the formula for his invention with France’s Institut National de la Propriété Intellectuelle. Beneath the number 63471 hides what is commonly referred to as Klein blue.
A few years later, blue would imbue the creations of fashion houses everywhere – the cornerstone of a new elegance, chic, and artsy style all mixed together, color now accompanied clothing.
Leave a Reply