"La Terre Bleue"
Edition 165/300. IKB pigment and synthetic resin on plaster. Height 35 cm. In a plexiglass box, 41 x 29 x 29 cm. With a label underneath "Editee par La Galerie Bonnier a Genève. Realisee par Jean-Paul Ledeur a Paris". Conceived in 1957 by Yves Klein and produced in 1990 by Galerie Bonnier, Geneva, in collaboration with Rotraut Klein-Moquay and Jean-Paul Ledeur. Certificate included.
Galerie Bonnier, Genève.
Private Collection, Sweden.
Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou Musée National d'Art Moderne, "Yves Klein", March - May 1983, p. 109, no. 56 (another example exhibited).
Nice, Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain and Museo Pecci Prato, "Yves Klein: Long Live the Immaterial!", April 2000 - January 2001, p. 184 (another example exhibited and illustrated).
Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Angers, Marie Raymond, "Yves Klein", November 2004 - February 2005, p. 190 (another example exhibited and illustrated).
P. Wember, Yves Klein, Cologne, 1969, p. 109, no. RP7 (another example illustrated).
P. Restany, Yves Klein, New York, 1982, p. 226 (another example illustrated).
J.P. Ledeur, Yves Klein: Catalogue of Editions and Sculptures Edited, Belgium, 1999, p. 242 (another example illustrated).
N. Charlet, Yves Klein, Paris, 2000, p. 230 (another example illustrated).
H. Weitemeier, Yves Klein: International Klein Blue, Cologne, 2001, p. 83 (another example illustrated).
Yves Klein (1928-1962) was one of the leading figures of the Nouveau Réalisme art movement. He is perhaps best known today for his Klein Blue objects. During his brief life, he was also a pioneer of performance art, the most disruptive art movement since Cubism.
In 1956, he entered his "blue period." For Klein, blue was a unique color with the ability to make the intangible and invisible, such as space and the sky, visible. He embodied the sky by claiming to have invented its color: International Klein Blue (IKB), which he introduced in 1957. IKB ran like a blue thread through his work, which included several types of monochrome pieces made from various materials.
The earth is also a recurring theme in his work, appearing in several variants and forming a series with the general title "Planetary Reliefs."
In 1970, Yves Klein's widow, Rotraut Klein-Moquay, and Jan Runnqvist of Galerie Bonnier decided to complete one of his projects. In 1982, they produced an edition of 300 copies of La Vénus d'Alexandrie (Vénus Bleue). In 1990 it was the turn of “La Terre Bleue” to be produced in the same numbers. “La Terre Bleue” perfectly expresses Yves Klein's fascination with monochrome, the immaterial, space, and nature.