Raised in France in an artistic milieu, Yves Klein expressed his artistic inclinations as a teenager. According to one narrative, at the beach in Nice with his childhood friends the poet Claude Pascal and the artist Arman Fernandez, the young Klein symbolically claimed the sky as his medium. This would serve as a backstory for Klein’s later development of his signature International Klein Blue, or IKB, a saturated hue that he used in many of his paintings, sculptures and performances and that he patented as his own in 1960. Klein was a leading figure of Nouveau Réalisme, the movement created in 1960 by the art critic Pierre Restany that aspired to discover “new ways of perceiving the real.” For Klein, that dictum might be realized in a work such as Monotone-Silence Symphony, which he wrote in 1949 and that was performed in 1960 as a performance during which a 20-minute sustained chord was followed by 20 minutes of silence. Perhaps his most famous works are his Monochromes, which he executed in a range of colors including orange, yellow, and pink, eventually focusing on IKB, the ultramarine pigment suspended in synthetic resin that he developed and manufactured. Klein believed the color embodied the essence of pure idea and appears throughout many of his paintings and sculptures. The artist’s burgeoning career was cut short when he suffered a heart attack while at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1962 and died shortly afterward, at age 34. Despite the brevity of Klein’s career, his works have had lasting appeal and are in the collections of museums around the world, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, the Centre Pompidou, Paris and the Kunsthaus Zurich. Works by Klein continue to perform well at auction. According to Sotheby’s Mei Moses, the average compound annual return for Yves Klein resold at auction between 2003 and 2017 was 13.4%. 93.3% of 60 such works increased in value.

Yves Klein

Contemporary Day Auction

Property from a Distinguished Private American Collection

Property from a Distinguished Private American Collection Yves Klein 1928 - 1962 Cosmogonie sans titre (COS 18) signed, dated Mars 60 and inscribed monochrome (lower right) dry pigment and synthetic resin on paper laid down on canvas 25 ⅝ by 19 ⅞ in. 65.1 by 50.5 cm. Executed in 1960.

View 1 of Lot 322: Cosmogonie sans titre (COS 18)

cosmogonie sans titre (cos 18)

Vision: The Extraordinary Collection of Theodore and Ruth Baum Evening Auction

Vision: The Extraordinary Collection of Theodore and Ruth Baum

Vision: The Extraordinary Collection of Theodore and Ruth Baum Yves Klein 1928 - 1962 Untitled Blue Monochrome, (IKB 175) signed and dated 57. (on the overlap) dry pigment and synthetic resin on canvas mounted on panel 19 ⅝ by 19 ⅝ in. 49.8 by 49.8 cm. Executed in 1957.

View 1 of Lot 19: Untitled Blue Monochrome, (IKB 175)

untitled blue monochrome, (ikb 175)

Property from a Distinguished Private American Collection Yves Klein 1928 - 1962 Peinture de feu sans titre (F 11) titled (on the reverse); inscribed by Rotraut Klein-Moquay Ce tableau est un oeuvre authentique d'Yves Klein R. Klein (on the reverse) burnt cardboard mounted on panel 23 ⅞ by 19 ¾ in. 60.6 by 50.2 cm. Executed circa 1961.

View 1 of Lot 323: Peinture de feu sans titre (F 11)

peinture de feu sans titre (f 11)

L'esclave mourant d'après Michel-Angenumbered 19/300 and signed by Rotraut Klein-Moquay on a label affixed to the undersidedry pigment and synthetic resin on plaster59 by 18 by 13 cm.23¼ by 11 by 9 1/8 in.Conceived in 1962 and executed in 1992, this work is number 19 from an edition of 300 plus 50 hors-commerce numbered I / L to L/ L.

L'esclave mourant d'après Michel-Ange

L'ours Pompon, <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Yves+Klein&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Yves Klein</a> edition, 2022.<ul><li>After Yves Klein (French, 1928-1962).</li><li>After François Pompon (1855-1933).</li><li>Handmade Resin with IKB Finishing.</li><li>Collaboration between the Estates of Yves Klein and François Pompon.</li><li>Numbered, accompanied by certificate with publisher's stamp and signed by the representatives of the rights holders of the two artists.</li><li>Part of an edition of 999.</li></ul>

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