Yves Klein

Edouard Adam, Paris
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Paris, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Yves Klein 1928-1962, 1969
New York, Sidney Janis Gallery, Monochrome Paintings and Sponge Reliefs by Yves Klein, 1986, no. 21

Paul Wember, Yves Klein, Cologne 1969, p. 95, illustrated

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate although the overall tonality is slightly deeper and richer in the original. Condition: This work is in good condition and has been restored under the direction of the Yves Klein Archives.
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Yves Klein's exquisite SE 200 is one of only seven recorded pink sponge sculptures in the artist's catalogue raisonné and one of the strongest examples.  Extremely rare and precious, the sumptuous surface of the pigmented sponge is rich with texture and its glowing pink colour is immediately eye-catching.  Unique and stunningly beautiful, the colour pink, like gold, carries a number of spiritual connotations.  Rendered in the form of a soft and natural sculpture which has the capacity to absorb this colour to its maximum, SE 200 is at once a mesmerizing work of art. 

Klein's name is most often synonymous with the colour blue, which was employed in his earliest experimentations in colour through his iconic International Klein Blue (IKB) monochromes.  For Klein, pink alluded to the notion of Spirit as professed in Catholic dogma.  "In the Bible, the spirit is manifest as breath or flames.  If one breaks down the hues of fire, one obtains a continuum from yellow through blue to pink" (Nicolas Charlet, Yves Klein, Paris 2000, p. 194).  Pink also conveys carnal desires, sensuality and innocence.  Perhaps cognizant of the diverse interpretations, Klein employed a more subjective definition of the colour pink as 'rose' or 'crimson' (rose carmine).  In his L'Aventure Monochrome of 1957 Klein wrote that "For me colours are living beings ... [they] are the true inhabitants of space ... there are myriads of nuances of all colours, each with its particular worth".

Klein's earliest sponge sculptures from 1958 evolved as a derivative of his iconic Monochromes and as an exploration into nature and space.  First exhibited in June 1959 at the Galerie Iris Clert in Paris, Klein presented his lavishly saturated sponge sculptures – all of varying sizes, heights, shapes and textures – grouped together along the sides of a small room, transforming the space into a lush, crowded and mysterious environment, in an attempt to recreate the beauty and overgrowth of a natural woodland area.  Filling the gallery with an assortment of things which resembled flowers, trees, lush vegetation, and even human figures, Klein created a dense forest of sponges.  Klein's forest of sponges, according to Stich was meant to imply that "a process of natural growth and proliferation was taking place" and that these brilliant flowers and trees were a natural phenomenon, growing in nature, and evolving and multiplying as Klein continued to create hundreds of variations of these sculptures (Sidra Stich, Yves Klein, Ostfildern 1994, p. 165).  The forest was intended to emphasize an allusion to nature, and highlight the differences which can be found in a seemingly similar object – Klein's aim with these sponge sculptures was, like his earlier monochromes, to emphasize that no two things on the planet are identical despite their apparent similarities – insisting that the individual value of each work resides in the creativity instilled in it, and holds an inherent sensibility or aura which is immaterially present and irreproducible.  Nan Rosenthal describes Klein's use of sponge as "a curious and elegant found material which proved to be a telling metaphor for his desire to involve his audience in his (blue) world and which he employed brilliantly to exaggerate certain formal questions raised by serial monochromes" (cited in: Exhibition Catalogue, Houston, Institute for the Arts, Rice University, Yves Klein 1928-1962, A Retrospective, 1982, p. 111).

Klein first purchased sponges in 1956 from his friend Edouard Adam, who also supplied him with his specially developed IKB pigment.  Klein became increasingly obsessed with this new medium, and began sourcing sponges from suppliers in Greece and Tunisia, hand choosing each one with fanatical precision.  Originally using sponges to apply paint, he began noticing their incredible absorption qualities and the beauty of this natural material one day in his studio and began to employ them in his work, stating "The extraordinary capacity for sponges to absorb everything liquid fascinated me" (Hannah Weitemeier, Yves Klein: 1928-1962, London 2004, p. 37).  Klein varied the types of sponges he used, generally employing soft ones of the kind used for bathing and cleaning, which he hardened with a binder before painting.  Occasionally, he used a kind of spiny, calcified sponge known as white coral.  In the teachings of the Rosicrucians, which had preoccupied Klein since his youth, the sponge symbolises the oceanic scope of diverse spiritual realms. 

Klein often referred to his sponge sculptures as portraits, stating that "Thanks to the sponges – living, savage material – I was able to make portraits of the readers of my monochromes who, after having seen, after having travelled in the (blue) of my paintings, come back totally impregnated in sensibility like the sponges" (the artist cited in: Sidra Stich, Yves Klein, Ostfildern 1994, p. 165).  He believed the sponge impregnates by being impregnated, in its passage from tool to artwork, without the interference of the canvas, and that the sponge is a medium which demonstrates the transitive dimension of impregnation.  The sponge, the real matter, thus became the ideal metaphor for translating the idea of the transmission of artistic sensibility.  Since sponges were naturally absorbent, they were the perfect material to use to provide Kline with the type of saturation he sought to achieve – saturation of both the environment and the people.  Klein's sponge sculptures were a natural progression in his work as he searched for a form of freedom, a weightless, air-like material, in an attempt to defy gravity.  His sponges offered the possibility of placing his objects in space, thereby acquiring the independence that the monochrome paintings sought with respect to the wall.  To the same extent as the monochromes, the sponge has become emblematic of Klein's work, with an underlying wish for his viewers to feel, and experience his art as a connection to the experience of real life.