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Yves Klein
IKB74, 1958

Artwork Info

Artwork title
IKB74
Artist name
Yves Klein
Date created
1958
Classification
painting
Medium
pigment on fabric and panel
Dimensions
78 in. × 54 5/8 in. (198.12 cm × 138.68 cm)
Date acquired
1999
Credit
Collection SFMOMA
Gift of Phyllis C. Wattis
Copyright
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Permanent URL
https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/99.372
Artwork status
Not on view at this time.

Audio Stories

A deep dive into the blue

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transcripts

SFX: Music rises, mystical, single note to create a sense of glowing color (Composer: Marc Kate) 

NARRATOR: 

Have you ever seen a blue like this? It’s called International Klein Blue. Named after the artist who invented it, Yves Klein. He believed colors had mystical power. He worked with a chemist to develop that blue. Even tried to patent it.  

SFX: Music continues 

NARRATOR: 

Klein called paintings like this “open windows to freedom.” Let’s try something. Stay here for a minute and keep your eyes in that blue. I mean a whole minute. Until the end of this message. Some paintings reveal their magic slowly. Trust me. Let’s go through that open window.  

SFX: Dive into water leads to MUSIC CHANGE, multilayered ambient tracks. An occasional voice emerges from the ether – placed in different audio quadrants – asking questions: 

VOICE: How deep does it go? 

VOICE: Where does it take you? 

VOICE: How has it changed? 

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Other Works by Yves Klein

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