Yves Klein: A retrospective

Together with Yves Klein Archives and the support of the French Embassy in Argentina and Tenaris, Fundación Proa presents Yves Klein. A retrospective, the first retrospective in Latin America of Yves Klein (1928–62), one of the most influential figures of the post-war era, whose short but extraordinarily creative career continues to inspire new generations of artists worldwide.

The exhibition brings together more than 70 works and approximately 100 archival documents that include his first monochromatic paintings of 1955; his famous works saturated in International Klein Blue; his fire paintings; planetary-reliefs; his rain and wind Cosmogonies; the Anthropometries; his series of Sponge-Sculptures; his works on gold; and his Leap into the Void, amongst others.

Covering painting, sculpture, performance, theatre, music, film, and architecture, the French artist combined artistic practice with spirituality, the power of the force of nature and the exploration of a path to the absolute. He shifted the focus from the material object to a “immaterial sensibility,” challenging the preexistent notions about art and infusing them with a new sense of spirituality through pure color. His works with “human paintbrushes,” were naked women where covered in paint and directed to leave their imprints on paper, sought to register the cosmic energies of the body. These Anthropometries reflected upon time and physical presence in a material plane.

This retrospective shows us an innovative and bold artist that constantly blurred the lines between art and life, painting and performance, objects and ideas. Rethinking his own age from an aesthetic and spiritual perspective, he acted as a bridge for future artistic movements such as pop, conceptual, installation, and performance art.