Yves Klein

The French artist Yves Klein (1928–1962) is remembered above all for a color. Working with a chemist, he developed his own pigment, called International Klein Blue, and registered it as a trademark. In his monochrome paintings, he set out to eliminate subject matter, leaving only color and its effect on the viewer.

Klein’s career lasted just eight years, but in that time he made performances and conceptual works alongside his paintings. Before becoming an artist, he taught judo. That background showed in his interest in the body, in traces and in movement. Klein died of a heart attack at the age of 34.