This enticing photo being used in publicity for the new coffee table book, Interiors: The Greatest Rooms of the Century, is of artist Yves Klein’s apartment and studio at 14, rue Campagne-Premiere in Paris, which was preserved by his partner, German artist Rotraut Uecker after Klein’s death in 1962. Klein painted the walls, doors, and brick fireplace white, with artworks and other elements in his signature highly-saturated blue, as shown in this image of a picnic there in 1960 taken by Miltos Tosca.
Klein enlisted a chemist to develop the shade made of pure ultramarine pigment suspended in a binding medium, without linseed oil, to preserve its brilliance. According to MOMA:
Klein likened monochrome painting to an “open window to freedom.”
…Klein adopted this hue as a means of evoking the immateriality and boundlessness of his own particular utopian vision of the world.
Many photographs at YvesKlein.com show Klein at work in the space. Here he “realizes an Anthropometry with Elena”, employing her as a “human paintbrush” in front of an audience.
Not only was the space adorned with his artwork, much of it in his astonishing blue, Klein also designed furniture, notably the intriguing coffee table in the photo at top: a flat rectangular box of glass and plexiglass on steel legs that houses loose International Klein Blue pigment.
We found detailed images of it at First Dibs, where licensed copies are available for sale.
… His formula of a plexiglass box housing elemental pigment or other material would be a cool idea to steal…
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…We’ve seen iterations of the coffee table with fluffy shards of gold leaf…
…which echoes a Klein work called Monogold…
…as well as with rose pink pigment, “Monopink”, which doesn’t seem Klein’s style at all. It’s useful for visualizing possibilities in the realm of coffee table.
The beautiful International Yves Klein blue can be obtained from Ressource Peintures. Remodelista has examples of homes employing Yves Klein blue look-alikes here.
Klein’s work sparks many ideas…
