Yves Klein

La Terre Bleue

Despite the brevity of his career, Yves Klein left a distinctive and fascinating body of work which resonates in the history of art. In 1956, he embarked on his “Blue period”, to his mind, blue was a unique colour with the power to render the immaterial and invisible, such as space and the sky, visible.
In the oeuvre of Yves Klein, the Earth is a recurrent theme, appearing in multiple variants and forming a series more globally entitled “Planetary reliefs”. La Terre Bleue is a perfect expression of Yves Klein's fascination with the monochrome, the immaterial, space and nature. "In 1957, Klein stated that the Earth was entirely blue. It was on that occasion that he created a Blue Relief globe [...]. Four years later... cosmonaut Gagarin stated in April 1961 that the Earth is of a deep intense blue!!!" - Published in: Yves Klein le Monochrome, il nuovo realismo del colore (cat. d'exp.), Milan, Galleria Apollinaire, novembre 1961, n. p. Repris dans: Ledeur 2000, p. 245.