Yves Klein

Do you have a piece by Yves Klein in your possession and would like to know its value? Our Experts will carry out a free appraisal of your piece, provide you with an estimate of the market price, and then help you to sell at the best possible price.

Status, estimation and price of the artist Yves Klein

Price of a painting: 28,000 – 6,500,000 €.

Estimation of a sculpture: 4,000 – 3,000,000 €.

Estimation of a lamp: 126 – 50,000 €

Price of a piece of furniture: 13,500 – 31 800 €.

If you would like to have a work by Yves Klein appraised, our experts will take care of everything.

International Klein Blue

Yves Klein was born in 1928 to painter parents. He did not begin his artistic career until 1954 – and that without having studied art. Prior to that, Klein had invested himself enormously in the sport of judo, even writing a book The Fundamentals of Judo. Shortly afterwards, he and his friend Pierre Restany founded the Nouveaux Réalistes group. The artist’s work focused primarily on monochromes and ultramarine blue. Kleinestablished a variant of this blue with the art dealer Édouard Adam in 1956: the International Klein Blue (IKB). The specificity of this blue is that it retains the brilliance of the pigment once it is transformed into paint. This colour became the artist’s signature. He went on to explore several themes. One such theme was the “invisible”, where Klein created an exhibition where one could only see a completely empty room. Another was the “infinite” using paintings and sculptures made with different materials such as balloons and sponges (Victoire de Samothrace 1962).

Early monochromes

French artist Pierre Restany called Klein’s paintings “monochrome proposals”. However, the artist began his pictorial work with colours other than blue, such as the orange painting where he wanted to present a monochrome at the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles in 1955, but which was refused by the committee because its simplicity was too great.

The Anthropometries of Yves Klein

Yves Klein created a new kind of monochrome at a private party in 1958 – anthropometries, he also patented the process: naked women smeared themselves with blue paint (IKB) and printed the colour on a sheet of paper on the floor with their own bodies. Yves Klein then organised another evening, this time with a live audience observing the making of the anthropometries, which was followed by a debate. This 1960 performance was called Anthropometry of the Blue Age and was accompanied by a symphony written by Klein, the 20-minute Monotone-silence Symphony, consisting of a single sound followed by 20 minutes of silence. At the same time, he signed the manifesto of the New Realism with Caesar, Tinguley and Christo.

Klein also made Fire Paintings where he printed the trace of flames left on leaves (Yves Klein: Monochrome et Feu 1961). He sometimes mixed anthropometries. In the same year he wrote the Manifesto of the Chelsea Hotel in New York where he evoked his career and his ambition to “never lose sight of the edge, today consciously attained – the immaterialisation of art”.

Recognising Yves Klein’s signature

Like many artists, Klein did not sign all of his works. However, you will find below an example of the signatures to give you an idea. Variations of these signatures do exist, do not hesitate to contact one of our experts to formally authenticate a signature.

Appraising and selling a piece by Yves Klein

If you own a piece by Yves Klein or any other object, ask for a free estimate via our online form.

You will then be contacted by a member of our team of experts and auctioneers to give you an independent view of the market price of your piece. In the context of a possible sale, our specialists will also advise you on the different options available to sell your work at the best price.