Easily passing as one of the most innovative artists emerging from the neo avant-garde period, Yves Klein was a French mastermind who wrote out some very interesting and exciting pages of modern art history. Although he did not want to have anything to do with art in his student years, instead seeking out advancements in other fields such as Eastern spirituality and judo, Klein eventually did introduce unique concepts to the scene once he chose to dedicate himself to artistic creation in the late 1940s. What fueled this sudden turn to art and his entire creation process was Yves’ one of a kind relationship with the sky. Most notable of these concepts is the famous International Klein Blue (also known as IKB) – this chemically developed color found its way into every mature piece Yves ever created, effectively becoming one of the most recognizable trademarks in modern art. Putting the ultramarine color aside, this artist also introduced ideas such as sponge sculptures, living paintbrushes, fire paintings and other conceptual works, as well as some of the most original performance acts ever assembled. Yves Klein was also one of the founders of Nouveau Réalisme, an artistic movement founded by himself and the art critic Pierre Restany in 1960.

Young Yves Klein and His Blue Sky
Yves Klein was born in Nice, France, during the year of 1928. Despite both of his parents being painters, young Klein had no particular interest in exploring any kinds of art in his earliest years. Despite his efforts to ignore such callings, Yves parents had a massive influence on their son’s future career – Klein’s father, Fred, worked in a figurative style, while his mother, Marie, favored more abstract expression. Yves grew up between Paris and Cagnes-sur-Mer, a place in the southern France which was his home whilst the Nazis occupied the northern lands of his country. Between the years of 1942 and 1964, Klein studied at the École Nationale de la Marine Marchand and the École Nationale des Langues. He was still not attracted to traditional art forms, choosing instead to dedicate himself to the exploration classic literature, jazz music, eastern philosophy and judo – a Japanise fighting style with its roots in the ancient samurai combat.
As student Klein was enjoying post-war life and his various hobbies, the legend now forever embedded in art history says that he had an epiphany which will permanently alter his view on the world and subsequently shape his future work. Lying on the beach with friends in 1946, Yves declared that he claimed the sky. Although this may sound a bit crazy in all honesty, Klein’s friends were not as shocked as they’ve been aware of Yves’ fascination with the endless blue above us – the young artist described the sky as the perfect representation of the formless and infinite[1]. Talking about it many years later, Klein stated that he actually started to feel nothing but hatred for birds due to their natural ability to fly. He said that the birds would fly back and forth across the blue cloudless sky with goals of boring holes in his greatest and most beautiful work. These heavily abstract concepts with surrealistic touches would fuel Klein’s art for the remainder of his career as he dedicated his life to depicting mystical experiences between his and the sky through his work.
All of Klein’s pieces were somehow connected to his unique relationship with the endless sky above us

A New Color – International Klein Blue
Invigorated by his revelation of the sky and its mysticism, Klein began to seek ways of communicating his vision with the rest of the world. One of his very first creations was the Monotone-Silence Symphony (1947–48) – a musical piece intended to elicit the sky through a constant playing of a single chord for full 20 minutes, followed up by an equally long period of silence that was reserved for reflection upon what the listener just realized. Although this piece was not to be performed publicly for a decade later, it did set the tone and the primary theme that would serve as a compass to all Klein’s future works. Monotone-Silence Symphony was so ahead of its time that it’s always fascinating to realize the piece was actually created before the year of 1950 – literally nothing similar was ever made and the closest thing to Klein’s symphony were Futuristic’s takes on artistic music and sounds during the early 20th century.
Following the years after the completion of the Monotone-Silence Symphony, Yves traveled extensively. He would further shape his artistic vision and overall skill along the way, absorbing all the locations he would visit and finding inspiration in local art. Klein lived in London for three years between 1949 and 1952, spending most of his time working in a frame shop – this experience, combined with the under the radar influence his parents had on him, eventually helped Yves to gain a solid understanding of painting and the foundations of color. Growing a bit bored with the United Kingdom, Klein decided to follow his instinct and pursue a better skill in judo, his lifelong fascination. In order to do so, he set his sails to Japan in the year of 1952 and became a fourth dan black belt at the legendary Kodokan Institute. Whilst in the Land of the Rising Son, Yves held a solo exhibition of his work and wrote a manual of his art, titling it the Manifesto of the Monochrome. In it, Klein described his work as a liberation of emotion from the restraints of line and object[2].
After traveling around the world, Yves finally made a full circle and returned to Paris in the year of 1955. There he opened a judo school and continued to develop his neo avant-garde concepts. In February 1956, he held another solo show called Yves: Propositions Monochromes – in this exhibition, the artist displayed twenty paintings, each composed of a different single color. Unfortunately, the French public yet again proved that it was not ready to witness Klein’s concepts, so Yves: Propositions Monochromes was destined to become a huge failure. Disappointed by the unenthusiastic response he received, Yves decided to force the next step of his career. Hiring a professional chemist to help him, Klein devised a special color to be used in all his future works – a deep ultramarine tone. He called it International Klein Blue (IKB).
International Klein Blue (or IKB) was an ultramarine color that served as Yves’ main expressive tool in all his mature works

Blue Ballons, Fire Paintings and Live Sculptures
After he established it as a trademark symbol, the ultramarine color became the main tool of Yves’ art through which he channeled his spirituality and the personal relationship with the sky above him. The birth of the deep blue color subsequently launched his Blue Period in the year of 1957, marked by his famous Aerostatic Sculpture. This performance act was organized in Paris and it was based on releasing 1,001 blue balloons. This time around, the French public loved Yves’ work. Aerostatic Sculpture put Klein on the map and he soon traveled around Europe, presenting his monochromic paintings in London and Milan. In the same year, the artist also branched out a bit and found a new method to express his blue ideas. Yves completed a commissioned task that required him to paint a mural for the entrance hall of a new opera house in Gelsenkirchen, West Germany. He also started his series of sculptures that featured the paint-soaked sponges he used to create his monochromes.
After the 1957’s events, Klein became a household name of the French contemporary scene. It was about that time that he started to work on the legendary The Void[3], a project that had Yves empty an entire space of the Galeries Iris Clert and paint it completely white. Simultaneously, Klein began to experiment with more approaches to expressing his vision – he would hire nude female models and cover the entirety of their bodies with International Klein Blue, later introducing them to blank surfaces as if he was using living paintbrushes. Inspired by the Sun, Yves also began burning his canvases and effectively establishing a new series of his career – the so-called fire paintings. He worked on his Monogolds[4] as well. Soon, Yves became a part of a group of other artists who all wanted to find new ways of representing reality around us. This group founded by Klein and Pierre Restany in 1960 was called Nouveau Réalisme and it revolved around methods of seeing the world as an image from which they could take parts and incorporate them into their works. By the year of 1961, Klein became an under the radar star of the contemporary art scene, with his various pieces traveling around the world and attracting mass attention both around Europe and The United States.
Yves Klein is widely considered as the most important performance art representative of all time

Yves Klein’s Table Bleue
Although Klein is probably better known for his signature paintings and the rest of the International Klein Blue works,this artist actually dedicated a lot of his effort into becoming a part of the furniture design world. The result of such efforts were his Table Bleue pieces, tabletops that are still produced to this day – although the price tags often exceed the sum of $22,500, so it can not be easily described as affordable to wider masses. To this day, Klein’s design of the Table Bleue did not change a bit since he first presented them. Yves’ tables are essentially a plexiglass box supported by metal legs and filled with the pigment of the International Klein Blue. Today, Klein’s Table Bleue pieces are produced by a company called Artware. Besides the standard sky version of the table, there were also tabletops that came in pink and gold colorations.

The End of the Tale
After one of his American exhibitions started to be under an all out critical attack, Yves was prompted to write the famous Chelsea Hotel Manifesto. In it, the artist described how he sees his life’s work and explains many aspects of his art, as well as the transcendent experience on the beach in 1947. This manifesto now has a cult status and it is widely considered to be the most precise explanation of Klein’s art and one of the most amazing writings about art ever made. Soon after the USA show’s failure, Yves married German artist Rotraut Uecker. Unfortunately, the happy marriage was heavily overshadowed by Klein’s signs of heart trouble. Logically, this eventually impacted his artistic output as well as he was forced to spend much of his time in hospitals. He also stopped visiting his own exhibitions – something he loved doing throughout his career. On June 6, 1962, Klein suffered a critical heart attack and subsequently died at a local infirmary. He was only 34 years of age. Luckily, the sad and untimely ending of Yves’ life was a bit lightened by the birth to his son, Yves Amu Klein, who was born mere two months after his father passed away.
Yves’ work did not manage to impact the scene whilst he still drew breath, but it became vital to conceptual and performance art after Klein’s death
Forever Believe in the Blue
Unfortunately, Yves was ultimately very misunderstood and maligned during his day, with his true appreciation coming only after the fatal year of 1962. This can somewhat be connected to the fact that his premature death ended his career before he had a chance to furtherly establish his art, but it’s undeniable that the public was simply not ready nor willing to understand most of his pieces. In his time, Klein was a quick excitement and one of the artists no one wanted to adhere with too much respect. However, as the years after his death were passing by, Yves’ impact started to show in all aspects of both the performance and conceptual art movements. Now his name is treated with deserved respect and it became a challenge to name just a few contemporary artists who impacted the world as much as Yves Klein managed to do.
References:
- Anonymous. Yves Klein Biography, Bio [September 2, 2016]
- Weitemeier, H., Yves Klein, 1928–1962: Internacional Klein Blue, Taschen, 2001
- Berggruen, O., Yves Klein – The Void, Pushkin Press, 2012
- Anonymous. True Blue, The New Yorker, p.72, 2010
Featured image: Yves Klein – Photo of the artist. © Yves Klein / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
All images used for illustrative purposes only.
Year | Exhibition Title | Gallery/Museum | Solo/Group | |
---|---|---|---|---|
2016 | El Nuevo Realismo | Centre Pompidou Malaga, Málaga | Group | |
2016 | My Body Is a Cage | MAC's Grand Hornu - Musée des Arts Contemporains, Hornu | Group | |
2016 | Turning Pages | Olomouc Museum of art - Zapadoceska galerie, Pilsen | Group | |
2016 | Painting 2.0 | Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig (MUMOK), Vienne | Group | |
2016 | Beckmann, Picasso, Giacometti & more | Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz | Group | |
2015 | Yves Klein | Galería Cayón, Madrid | Solo | |
2015 | Spazi dell’Anima: Yves Klein e la devozione a Santa Rita da Cascia | Museo Carlo Bilotti, Rome | Solo | |
2014 | Gorgeous | Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA | Group | |
2014 | A Inusitada | Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand - MASP, São Paulo | Group | |
2014 | Art and Alchemy | The Mystery of Transformation - Museum Kunstpalast, Dusseldorf | Group | |
2014 | Zero | Pinacoteca do Estado, São Paulo | Group | |
2014 | Experience 09: Silence | ESMoA, El Segundo, CA | Group | |
2014 | Zero | Galerie & Edition Bode GmbH, Nuremberg | Group | |
2014 | Leap into the Void | Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Antwerp | Group | |
2014 | CounterIntelligence | Justina M Barnicke Gallery, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON | Group | |
2014 | Experiments with Truth: Gandhi and Images of Nonviolence | The Menil Collection, Houston, TX | Group | |
2013 | La Grande Magia. Opere scelte dalla Collezione UniCredit | MAMbo - Galleria d'Arte Moderna di Bologna, Bologna | Group | |
2013 | 30th Council of Europe art exhibition - The Desire for Freedom. Art in Europe Since 1945 | Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków (MOCAK), Krakow | Group | |
2013 | The Show Is Over | Gagosian Gallery, London | Group | |
2013 | B.A.B.E - The Best Artists Books and Editors | Immanence, espace d'art contemporain, Paris | Group | |
2013 | Inaugral show Audible presence: Lucio Fontana, Yves klein, Cy Twombly | Dominique Lévy Gallery, New York City, NY | Group | |
2013 | Blau - dialog zwischen | Galerie Son, Berlin | Group | |
2013 | Adventures of truth - Painting and philosophy | Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul | Group | |
2013 | Critique and Crises. Art in Europe Since 1945 | Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn | Group | |
2013 | In Deed | Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius | Group | |
2013 | Die Sammlung Hubert Looser | Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich | Group | |
2013 | When Attitudes Become Form: Bern 1969 / Venezia 2013 | Fondazione Prada, Venice | Group | |
2013 | Blink | Lynch Tham, New York City, NY | Group | |
2013 | Viva Valencia. Arte Y Gastronomía. La Cocina De La Pintura | IVAM - Institut Valencià d'Art Modern, Valencia | Group | |
2013 | Yves Klein / Claude Parent | Espace de l’art concret, Mouans Sartoux | Group | |
2013 | Rêves de Venise | Institut culturel Bernard Magrez, Bordeaux | Group | |
2013 | The Desire for Freedom | Arte in Europa dal 1945 - Palazzo Reale, Milan | Group | |
2013 | Destroy the Picture: Painting the Void, 1949–1962 | Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA), Chicago, IL | Group | |
2013 | In Deed: Certificates of Authenticity in Art | Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC | Group | |
2012 | Judo e Teatro | Corpo e Visioni - Palazzo Ducale, Genoa | Solo | |
2012 | A Bigger Splash: Painting after Performance | Tate Modern, London | Group | |
2012 | ¡Explosión! El legado de Jackson Pollock | Fundación Joan Miró, Barcelona | Group | |
2012 | Albertina Contemporary | Albertina, Vienna | Group | |
2012 | Die Sammlung Gunter Sachs. Von Max Ernst bis Andy Warhol | Museum Villa Stuck, Munich | Group | |
2012 | XXX. Europaratsausstellung - Verführung Freiheit. Kunst In Europa Seit 1945 | Deutsches Historisches Museum - DHM, Berlin | Group | |
2012 | Avant-Gardes - The collection of the Triton Foundation | Kunsthal Rotterdam, Rotterdam | Group | |
2012 | Destroy the Picture: Painting the Void, 1949–1962 | MOCA Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA | Group | |
2012 | La Collection Michael Werner | Musée d´Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris - MAM/ARC, Paris | Group | |
2012 | Sense Of Colors | Keitelman Gallery, Brussels | Group | |
2012 | Verlangsamte Performance | VAN HORN, Dusseldorf | Group | |
2012 | Sounds like Silence (Cage – 4'33'' – Stille / 1912 – 1952 – 2012) | HMKV - Hartware MedienKunstVerein, Dortmund | Group | |
2012 | Luxe : Mode D'emploi | Passage de Retz, Paris | Group | |
2012 | Klein - Byars - Kapoor | MAMAC - Musee d´Art Moderne et d`Art Contemporain Nice, Nice | Group | |
2012 | Invisible | Hayward Gallery, London | Group | |
2012 | Explosion! - Painting in Action | Moderna Museet, Stockholm | Group | |
2012 | New art in antwerp 1958-1962 - # 3 creating totally new media | MuHKA Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, Antwerp | Group | |
2012 | A House Full Of Music | Strategien In Musik Und Kunst - Mathildenhöhe, Darmstadt | Group | |
2012 | Aufbruch. Malerei und realer Raum | AdK - Akademie der Künste, Berlin | Group | |
2012 | Micro Mania | Gagosian Gallery, Paris | Group | |
2012 | Arcadia in Celle: Art for Nature and Nature for Art | Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul | Group | |
2012 | Artandpress | Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin | Group | |
2012 | Gold | Belvedere, Vienna | Group | |
2012 | Spirits Of Internationalism | MuHKA Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, Antwerp | Group | |
2012 | 100 Years (version #4 Boston, 2012) | Boston University Art Gallery - BUAG, Boston, MA | Group | |
2012 | In The World Of Zero | SEM-ART Gallery, Monaco | Group | |
2011 | Lalique | Galerie Gmurzynska - Zürich, Zurich | Solo | |
2011 | Dance Your Life | Centre Pompidou - Musée National d´Art Moderne, Paris | Group | |
2011 | Art Talks & Sensations. The Island / a Game of Life | Gallery One - Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi | Group | |
2011 | In DeedCerificates of Authenticity in Art | Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice | Group | |
2011 | Aufbruch | Malerei und realer Raum - Situation Kunst, Bochum | Group | |
2011 | In Deed: Certificates of Authenticity in Art | De Vleeshal, Middelburg | Group | |
2011 | La couleur en avant | MAMAC - Musee d´Art Moderne et d`Art Contemporain Nice, Nice | Group | |
2011 | GRAVITY´S RAINBOW | Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland | Group | |
2011 | With One Color | Van de Weghe Fine Art, New York City, NY | Group | |
2011 | Selten & Schön | Stella A., Berlin | Group | |
2011 | Things are Queer - Highlights der Sammlung UniCredit | MARTa Herford, Herford | Group | |
2011 | Offset Summary | Rachel Uffner Gallery, New York City, NY | Group | |
2010 | With the Void, Full Powers | Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN | Solo | |
2010 | With the Void, Full Powers | Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC | Solo | |
2010 | The Artist as Collector: Olivier Mosset | Museum of Contemporary Art Tucson - MOCA, Tucson, AZ | Group | |
2010 | Inquiring Eyes: Greensboro Collects Art | Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC | Group | |
2010 | Highlights of Proarta | Galerie Proarta, Zurich | Group | |
2010 | Art Francais | SEM-ART Gallery, Monaco | Group | |
2010 | Shit or Gold? - HEART | Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Herning | Group | |
2010 | More of an activity:the artist as choreographer | Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima | Group | |
2010 | Painting, Process and Expansion | Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig - MUMOK , Vienna | Group | |
2010 | BEHIND THE SHADOWS | Galerie Wild - Zürich, Zurich | Group | |
2010 | Talking of Yves | England & Co, London | Group | |
2010 | Primario | Galería Cayón, Madrid | Group | |
2010 | Human | MAMAC - Musee d´Art Moderne et d`Art Contemporain Nice, Nice | Group | |
2010 | ART LOFT Fine Art zu Gast bei Galerie Wild Zürich | Galerie Wild - Zürich, Zurich | Group | |
2010 | In-between Minimalisms - Play Van Abbe, Part 2: Time Machines | Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven | Group | |
2010 | Funktionen der Zeichnung | Museum für Moderne Kunst (MMK), Frankfurt/Main | Group | |
2010 | COLOUR in ART | Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk | Group | |
2009 | The Foundations of Judo by Yves Klein | Cokkie Snoei Rotterdam, Rotterdam | Solo | |
2009 | MOCA´s First Thirty Years | MOCA Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA | Group | |
2009 | Herencias | Círculo de Bellas Artes de Madrid (CBA), Madrid | Group | |
2009 | Farbwelten. Von Monet bis Yves Klein | Paula Modersohn-Becker Museum, Bremen | Group | |
2009 | Karsten Greve, 20 years in Paris | Galerie Karsten Greve - Paris, Paris | Group | |
2009 | VOIDS- eine Retrospektive über leere Ausstellungen | Kunsthalle Bern, Bern | Group | |
2009 | The Lens and the Mirror: Self-Portraits from the Collection, 1957–2007 | The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY | Group | |
2009 | The Death of the Audience | Wiener Secession, Vienna | Group | |
2009 | VIENNESE ACTIONISM. FROM PAINTING TO ACTION Works | MUMOK collection - Sofia Art Gallery, Sofia | Group | |
2009 | Colour Chart: Reinventing Colour, 1950 to Today | Tate Liverpool, Liverpool | Group | |
2009 | Yves Klein & Rotraut | Galerie Gmurzynska - Zürich, Zurich | Group | |
2009 | Face Off | Galerie Sabine Knust, Munich | Group | |
2009 | Materia Gris | Galería Cayón, Madrid | Group | |
2009 | All that is solid melts into air | MuHKA Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, Antwerp | Group | |
2009 | WHITE LIGHT / WHITE HEAT | Hauser & Wirth, London (closed, 2011) | Group | |
2009 | Vides, Une rétrospective - Centre Pompidou | Musée National d´Art Moderne, Paris | Group | |
2009 | Winter Saison 2008/2009 | Galerie Gmurzynska - St. Moritz, St. Moritz | Group | |
2008 | Angli - Heart | HEART - Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Herning | Group | |
2008 | Licht & Gold | Galerie Proarta, Zurich | Group | |
2008 | Now's the time | Charlemont House, Dublin | Group | |
2008 | Lauffs Collection | Zwirner & Wirth, New York City, NY (closed, 2009) | Group | |
2008 | Rebuilding with Art | Fondazione Pierluigi e Natalina Remotti, Camogli, GE | Group | |
2008 | Masterworks | The Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg | Group | |
2008 | 16th Biennale of Sydney | Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, NSW | Group | |
2008 | World Art Masters | Galerie Gmurzynska - St. Moritz, St. Moritz | Group | |
2008 | Traces du Sacré - Centre Pompidou | Musée National d´Art Moderne, Paris | Group | |
2008 | Selections from the collection of Helga and Walther Lauffs | Zwirner & Wirth, New York City, NY (closed, 2009) | Group | |
2008 | Sammler Stiften. 250 Jahre Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München | Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich | Group | |
2008 | Color Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today | MoMA - Museum of Modern Art, New York City, NY | Group | |
2008 | Paul McCarthy´s Low Life Slow Life: Part 1 | CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, CA | Group | |
2008 | Person Of The Crowd: The Contemporary Art Of Flânerie | Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, NY | Group | |
2008 | Art Metropole: The Top 100 | MSVU Art Gallery, Halifax, NS | Group | |
2007 | Yves Klein & Martin Bruno Schmid | Galerie tazl., Weiz | Solo | |
2007 | Die blaue Revolution | Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig - MUMOK , Vienna | Solo | |
2007 | Tamaño Real | Galería Cayón, Madrid | Group | |
2007 | The Complexity Of The Simple | Mnuchin Gallery, New York City, NY | Group | |
2007 | Modern Contemporary Masters | Galerie Gmurzynska - St. Moritz, St. Moritz | Group | |
2007 | Die aufregende Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts | Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin | Group | |
2007 | Declaring Space | The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX | Group | |
2007 | Human Conditions: selections from the permanent collection | Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art - SMoCA, Scottsdale, AZ | Group | |
2007 | Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue? - Positionen der Farbfeldmalerei | Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden | Group | |
2007 | 25 Jahre - 25 Werke | Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten Marl, Marl | Group | |
2007 | ARTEMPO - Where Times Becomes Art | Museo Fortuny, Venice | Group | |
2007 | Artist’s Choice | Institut Néerlandais, Paris | Group | |
2007 | Vertigo - The century of off-media art from Futurism to the web | MAMbo - Galleria d'Arte Moderna di Bologna, Bologna | Group | |
2007 | The Last Seduction: A Welcome Surrender To Beauty | Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago, IL | Group | |
2007 | Köpfe - Körper | Galerie Rieder, Munich | Group | |
2007 | Fondation Beyeler: EROS in der Kunst der Moderne | Bank Austria Kunstforum, Vienna | Group | |
2007 | Art is an Idea - The Moquay Collection | Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art - SMoCA, Scottsdale, AZ | Group | |
2006 | Body, Colour, Immaterial | Centre Pompidou - Musée National d´Art Moderne, Paris | Solo | |
2006 | Air Architecture | Museum für angewandte Kunst (MAK), Vienna | Solo | |
2006 | Der Sprung ins Leere | Stiftung Ahlers Pro Arte / Kestner Pro Arte, Hannover | Solo | |
2006 | Renegades 25 Years of Performance at Exit Art | Exit Art, New York City, NY (closed, 2012) | Group | |
2006 | Busy going crazy. the Sylvio Perlstein collection | La Maison Rouge, Paris | Group | |
2006 | Eye on Europe - Prints, Books & Multiples, 1960 to Now | MoMA - Museum of Modern Art, New York City, NY | Group | |
2006 | Zéro | Musée d'Art moderne de Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne | Group | |
2006 | The Materialization Of Sensibility: Art And Alchemy | Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York City, NY | Group | |
2006 | Bienal del Aire | MACCSI Museo Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas Sofía Imber, Caracas | Group | |
2006 | 60th Anniversary Show | Gimpel Fils, London | Group | |
2006 | New Horizons - Selections from the Permanent Collection | Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, GA | Group | |
2006 | The Expanded Eye. Sehen | Entgrenzt und verflüssigt - Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich | Group | |
2006 | Wrong | Klosterfelde, Berlin (closed) | Group | |
2006 | Zero - sammlung lenz schönberg 1956-2006 | Museum der Moderne Salzburg Mönchsberg, Salzburg | Group | |
2006 | Line and Surface - Works on Paper | Peter Blum Gallery, New York City, NY | Group | |
2005 | Fire paintings | Michael Werner Gallery - New York, New York City, NY | Solo | |
2005 | A Career Surve | Mnuchin Gallery, New York City, NY | Solo | |
2005 | Yves Klein: A Career Survey | L&M Arts, New York, New York City, NY | Solo | |
2005 | Air Architecture | Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York City, NY | Solo | |
2005 | Spectrum | Galerie Lelong - New York, New York City, NY | Group | |
2005 | The Gravity in Art | De Appel Boys' School, Amsterdam | Group | |
2005 | Rural and Urban Landscapes | Galerie Gmurzynska - St. Moritz, St. Moritz | Group | |
2005 | A Brief History of Invisible Art | CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, CA | Group | |
2005 | Nouveau Réalisme | Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig - MUMOK , Vienna | Group | |
2005 | Contradicting Architecture | Galerie Marian Goodman, Paris | Group | |
2005 | Colour After Klein | Barbican Art Gallery, London | Group | |
2005 | (my private) Heroes | MARTa Herford, Herford | Group | |
2005 | The Enigma of Modernity | Ludwig Museum - Museum of Contemporary Art - Budapest, Budapest | Group | |
2005 | Marie Raymond-Yves Klein | Musée Joseph Déchelette, Roanne | Group | |
2005 | The Last Picture Show - Artists using Photography 1960-1982 | Miami Art Central, Miami, FL | Group | |
2005 | Interessi Zero | Galleria Civica di Trento, Trento | Group | |
2004 | A retrospective | Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt/Main | Solo | |
2004 | Yves Klein - Air Architecture | MAK Center for Art and Architecture, West Hollywood, CA | Solo | |
2004 | The Furniture of Poul Kjærholm and Selected Art | Sean Kelly Gallery, New York City, NY | Group | |
2004 | The Last Picture Show | Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur | Group | |
2004 | Woman - Metamorphosis of modernity | Fundación Joan Miró, Barcelona | Group | |
2004 | GRAVITY | Singapore Art Museum, Singapore | Group | |
2004 | The last picture show. Artistas que hacen uso de la fotografía. Tendencias conceptuales de 1960-1982 | MARCO Museo de Arte Contemporánea de Vigo, Vigo | Group | |
2004 | The Big Nothing | ICA - Institute of Contemporary Art - University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA | Group | |
2004 | Modern Means: Continuity and Change in Art from 1880 to the Present | Mori Art Museum, Tokyo | Group | |
2004 | The Last Picture Show - Artists Using Photography, 1960-1982 | UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA | Group | |
2004 | European-Art-Expo 2004 Fashion Düsseldorf | European Art Expo, Dusseldorf (closed) | Group | |
2003 | Winter Fairytales: Modern Masters and Russian Avantgarde | Galerie Gmurzynska - St. Moritz, St. Moritz | Group | |
2003 | Art, Lies and Videotape: Exposing Performance | Tate Liverpool, Liverpool | Group | |
2003 | Contemporary Art and the Mathematical Instinct | Tweed Museum of Art, Duluth, MN | Group | |
2003 | L´INVENTION DU MONDE | Centre Pompidou - Musée National d´Art Moderne, Paris | Group | |
2003 | Happiness - A Survival Guide for Art and Life | Mori Art Museum, Tokyo | Group | |
2003 | The Last Picture Show - Artists Using Photography - 1960-1982 | Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN | Group | |
2003 | In Pursuit of the Absolute | The Menil Collection, Houston, TX | Group | |
2003 | THE GIFT: Generous Offerings, Threatening Hospitality | Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, ON | Group | |
2003 | The Gift - Generous Offerings, Threatening Hospitality | Mary & Leigh Block Museum of Art, Evanston, IL | Group | |
2003 | Air | James Cohan Gallery - New York, New York City, NY | Group | |
2002 | El lenguaje del cuerpo | Galería Elvira González, Madrid | Group | |
2002 | Natural - Unnatural | Galerie Gmurzynska - Köln, Cologne (closed, 2006) | Group | |
2002 | París: Capital de las Artes 1900-1968 | Museo Guggenheim de Arte Moderno y Contemporáneo, Bilbao | Group | |
2002 | Bodies | Moderna Museet, Stockholm | Group | |
2002 | THE GIFT: Generous Offerings, Threatening Hospitality | Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art - SMoCA, Scottsdale, AZ | Group | |
2002 | V.I.P. 1 - Very Important Pieces | Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen | Group | |
2002 | THE GIFT - Generous Offerings, Threatening Hospitality | Bronx Museum of the Arts (BxMA), New York City, NY | Group | |
2002 | Nur Farbe | Galerie Thomas, Munich | Group | |
2001 | Points of Departure II: Connecting with Contemporary Art | San Francisco Museum of Modern Art - SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA | Group | |
2001 | Ingenting / Nothing | Rooseum Center for Contemporary Art, Malmö (closed, 2006) | Group | |
2001 | Naked since 1950 | L&M Arts, New York, New York City, NY | Group | |
2001 | Which ART do you like best ? | Kamakura Gallery, Kanagawa | Group | |
2001 | Nothing | Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius | Group | |
2001 | Die Sammlung Lauffs II | Museen Haus Lange / Haus Esters, Krefeld | Group | |
2001 | Monochrome/Monochrome? | Florence Lynch Gallery, New York City, NY (closed) | Group | |
2001 | Burn: Artists Play With Fire | Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC | Group | |
2001 | Vision | Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Toyota Aichi | Group | |
2001 | Re-Location - on moving | Sean Kelly Gallery, New York City, NY | Group | |
2001 | The Global Guggenheim - Selections from the Extended Collection | Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City, NY | Group | |
2001 | Evidence of Love, Romance, Desire & Fantasy | Jack Rutberg Fine Arts, Los Angeles, CA | Group | |
2001 | Burn - Artists Play with Fire | Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL | Group | |
2000 | La vita la vita stessa che è l´arte assoluta | Centro per l´Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, PO | Solo | |
2000 | Process / Reprocess - Japan and the West | Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York City, NY | Group | |
2000 | Century of Innocence – The History of the White Monochrome | Rooseum Center for Contemporary Art, Malmö (closed, 2006) | Group | |
2000 | MAN – Body in Art from 1950-2000 | ARKEN Museum for Moderne Kunst, Ishoj | Group | |
2000 | Die Farbe Blau | Galerie Rieder, Munich | Group | |
2000 | Now - The 30th Annual Mfa Graduate Exhibition | Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive BAM/PFA, Berkeley, CA | Group | |
2000 | Farbe | Licht - Fondation Beyeler, Riehen | Group | |
2000 | Cosmos - From Goya to De Chirico from Friedrich to Kiefer | Palazzo Grassi - Francois Pinault Foundation, Venice | Group | |
1999 | Tinguely’s Favorites: Yves Klein | Museum Tinguely, Basel | Solo | |
1999 | 7 Women, 7 Years later | Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York City, NY | Group | |
1999 | Petits Formats | Yoshii Gallery, New York City, NY | Group | |
1999 | Blue Dreams | Galerie Henze & Ketterer & Triebold, Riehen | Group | |
1999 | Out of actions | Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT), Tokyo | Group | |
1998 | Out of actions - Aktionismus, Body Art & Performances 1949-1979 | Museum für angewandte Kunst (MAK), Vienna | Group | |
1998 | Disappearing Act | Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York City, NY | Group | |
1998 | Out of Actions: Between Performance and the Object, 1949-1979 | The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles, CA | Group | |
1998 | BLUE/s | Galerie M + R Fricke, Düsseldorf, Dusseldorf (closed, 2006) | Group | |
1997 | The Anthropometries | Galerie Gmurzynska - Köln, Cologne (closed, 2006) | Solo | |
1997 | The Anthropometries | Danese, New York City, NY | Solo | |
1997 | Comme s'il n'était pas mort | Gallery Itsutsuji, Tokyo | Solo | |
1997 | 2nd Gwangju Biennale - Unmapping The Earth | Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju | Group | |
1997 | Angel, Angel - Legends of the Present | Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague | Group | |
1997 | Around Europe | Stedelijk Museum CS, Amsterdam | Group | |
1997 | ENGEL:ENGEL | Kunsthalle wien project space karlsplatz, Vienna | Group | |
1997 | Action/Performance & the Photograph | MSVU Art Gallery, Halifax, NS | Group | |
1996 | Dokumente, Briefe, Fotos,… | Weserburg | Museum für moderne Kunst, Bremen | Solo | |
1996 | Endurance: The Information | Arcadia University Art Gallery , Glenside, PA | Group | |
1995 | Main Stations - Nouveaux Départs Dans L'art Depuis 1950 | Casino Luxembourg - Forum d'art contemporain, Luxembourg | Group | |
1995 | 46th International Art Exhibition Venice Biennale / Biennale di Venezia | La Biennale di Venezia, Venice | Group | |
1995 | Defining Space | The Menil Collection, Houston, TX | Group | |
1995 | Endurance | Exit Art, New York City, NY (closed, 2012) | Group | |
1994 | Yves Klein – Der Sprung ins Leere | K20 Grabbeplatz, Dusseldorf | Solo | |
1994 | Yves Klein - Le Depassement de la Problematique de l'Art | Galerie Gmurzynska - Köln, Cologne (closed, 2006) | Solo | |
1994 | Mapping | MoMA - Museum of Modern Art, New York City, NY | Group | |
1993 | Fire at the Heart of the Void | Gagosian Gallery , New York City, NY | Solo | |
1993 | Works on Paper | Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London (closed, 2001) | Group | |
1993 | Refusing to Surface | SLG South London Gallery, London | Group | |
1992 | The Fire Paintings | MOCA Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA | Solo | |
1992 | Six Artists | The Menil Collection, Houston, TX | Group | |
1991 | Vision of Space | Galerie Gmurzynska - Köln, Cologne (closed, 2006) | Group | |
1991 | 7 Women | Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York City, NY | Group | |
1990 | Triptychon 1960 | Kunsthalle Basel, Basel | Solo | |
1990 | Broken Music | Musée d´art contemporain de Montréal, Montreal, QC | Group | |
1990 | Blau - Farbe der Ferne | Heidelberger Kunstverein, Heidelberg | Group | |
1989 | Sponge Reliefs | Gagosian Gallery , New York City, NY | Solo | |
1989 | 20° Bienal de São Paulo | Bienal de Sao Paulo, São Paulo | Group | |
1988 | Robert Gober, Yves Klein, Dan Flavin | 303 Gallery, New York City, NY | Group | |
1987 | Transformation and Prophecy | Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London (closed, 2001) | Group | |
1986 | Icarus: The Vision of Angels | Ronald Feldman Fine Arts Inc, New York City, NY | Group | |
1985 | Les immateriaux | Centre Pompidou - Musée National d´Art Moderne, Paris | Group | |
1982 | Yves Klein - a retrospective | Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City, NY | Solo | |
1978 | The Book of the Arts of Artists' Books | Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran | Group | |
1976 | Yves Klein - Retrospektive | Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Dusseldorf | Solo | |
1974 | Basically White | ICA - Institute of Contemporary Arts London, London | Group | |
1971 | Ways of Looking | MoMA - Museum of Modern Art, New York City, NY | Group | |
1970 | The Sidney and Harriet Janis Collection | ICA - Institute of Contemporary Arts London, London | Group | |
1969 | When Attitudes Become Form | ICA - Institute of Contemporary Arts London, London | Group | |
1968 | The Obsessive Image 1960-1968 | ICA - Institute of Contemporary Arts London, London | Group | |
1964 | Peintures de feu | Galerie Schmela, Dusseldorf (closed, 2008) | Solo | |
1962 | The New Realists | Sidney Janis Gallery, New York City, NY (closed, 1998) | Group | |
1958 | Le Vide (The Void) | Iris Clert Gallery, Paris (closed, 1971) | Solo | |
1957 | Propositions Monochromes | Galerie Schmela, Dusseldorf (closed, 2008) | Solo |