Object number2023.4.1
Vénus Bleue (La Vénus d'Alexandrie) (S 41)
Date1962
Artist
Yves Klein
(1928 - 1962)
Publisher
Editions Galerie Bonnier
(Geneva, 1961 - 1997)
CultureFrench
MediumPlaster cast with pigment (International Klein Blue) and resin, cast 1982
EditionEdition 193 of 300, plus 50 hors de commerce
DimensionsOverall: 26 3/4 x 11 5/8 x 11 1/2 in. (67.9 x 29.5 x 29.2 cm)
Credit LineBequest of Lynn Gross Straus, class of 1946
On View
Not on viewPeriod20th c
Classification(s)
InscribedBL of proper L leg: 193 / 300
MarkingsStamped on underside of proper R leg: VÉNUS BLEUE de Yves Klein; Exemplaire No. 193 / 300; Editions Galerie BONNIER GENÈVE; Réalisation Jean-Paul LEDEUR Paris.
Stamped on BL of proper L leg with embossed star/sun
BibliographyJean-Paul Ledeur S41
Pierre Restany, Yves Klein, New York, 1982, p. 204
Yves Klein, exh. cat., Oslo, 1997, p. 79, no. 66
Nicolas Charlet, Yves Klein, Paris, 2000, p. 231
Yves Klein, La Vie, la vie elle-même qui est l'art absolu, exh. cat., Nice, 2000-2001, p. 183Vassar Exhibitions
Label TextFirst there is nothing, then there is a deep nothing, then there is a blue depth.
—Gaston Bachelard, quoted by Yves Klein in “The Evolution of Art Towards the Immaterial,” lecture at the Sorbonne, June 3, 1959
Cast posthumously after Yves Klein’s original, this Venus realizes his quest for “the most perfect expression of Blue.” Klein developed International Klein Blue through synthetic resin binding, creating surfaces that actively radiate color. Applied to plaster reproductions of canonical sculptures, his pigment operates as what he termed the “refinement of sensibility in the first material state,” transforming familiar forms into vehicles for pure chromatic encounter. This work belongs to a series of classical reproductions Klein covered in his signature blue. Based on the famous Venus de Milo, the blue surface softens the sculpture’s original details while making it instantly recognizable as Klein’s work: a meditation on color, presence, and how we see familiar forms.
DescriptionA nude female torso including the upper portion of her right arm and thighs modeled in a classical style and covered in Klein's signature blue pigment. The texture of the surface with the pigment creates a velvet-like appearance. Terms
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