Beschreibung:

The Property of a Distinguished European Collector Yves Klein Follow Monochrome rose sans titre (MP 27) dry pigment and synthetic resin on canvas, laid on panel 40 x 35 cm (15 3/4 x 13 3/4 in.) Executed circa 1960, this work is registered in the Yves Klein Archives under the number MP 27, and will be included in the new edition of the Catalogue Raisonné of the artist’s work being completed under the supervision of Madame Rotraut Klein-Moquay Paris.
Provenance Galerie Rive Droite, Paris Galerie Bischofberger, Zurich Acquired from the above by the present owner circa 1980 Exhibited Paris, Galerie Rive Droite, Yves Klein Le Monochrome , 11 October - 13 November 1960, no. 7 Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée National d'Art Moderne; Vienna, mumok Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Yves Klein Corps, couleur, immatérial , 5 October 2006 - 3 June 2007, p. 6 (illustrated) Washington, D.C., Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden; Minneapolis, Walker Art Center, Yves Klein With the Void, Full Powers , 20 May 2010 - 13 February 2011, p. 95 (illustrated) Catalogue Essay Created in 1960, Monochrome rose sans titre (MP 27) is one of Yves Klein’s ‘Monopink’ paintings, which formed part of the trinity of colours, alongside blue and gold, that became the foundation of his work. Of these three colours, the ‘Monopinks’ such as Monochrome rose sans titre (MP 27) are the rarest. They also feature a great variation, ranging widely in colour, size and texture: in the case of Monochrome rose sans titre (MP 27) , the ‘rose’ of the title is more crimson, a rich tone with a beguiling, enticing sense of depth. In terms of texture, the surface has a pristine, uniform, velvety quality that itself marks it out from many of its peers. This adds to the impression that the picture, or rather the ‘pink,’ shimmers ethereally, eluding our focus. This work has been in the same private hands since its acquisition in the 1980s. It belonged to a formidable collection of works by Yves Klein which included sponge reliefs in all three of his trinity of colours, Le Rose du bleu (RE 27) , Archisponge (RE 11) , and Relief éponge or (RE 47 II) , as well as a number of other masterpieces by the artist, not least his Peinture du feu couleur sans titre (FC 27) . The rarity and quality of Monochrome rose sans titre (MP 27) are also reflected in the fact that it was in two important recent retrospectives of Klein's work; one of these began at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, while the other, held three years later at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, was the first major survey of Klein’s work to take place in the United States in almost three decades. Crucially, Monochrome rose sans titre (MP 27) featured in the very first exhibition in which Klein unveiled his trinity of the colours blue, gold and pink. It was on 11 October 1960 that the exhibition Yves Klein Le Monochrome opened with his customary fanfare at the Galerie Rive Droite at 23, rue Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris. This was Klein’s first show in Jean Larcade’s respected gallery, which had already established impressive contemporary credentials, not least by holding the first European one-man show of Jasper Johns’ work the previous year. As recorded in contemporary photographs, Klein’s opening was attended by a number of his contemporaries and friends. As well as some of his fellow Nouveaux Réalistes such as Jean Tinguely other attendees included Leonor Fini and Lucio Fontana the latter being a long-standing collector of Klein’s work. This was one of the great unifying moments in Klein’s career, when various conceptual strands coalesced to add new authority to his celebration of the Immaterial, a dimension of existence that surrounds and infuses everything. In Klein’s world view, it was the mystical, beautiful building block of existence itself. Even before the galvanisation of the trinity of blue, gold and pink in his 1960 exhibition, Klein had created monochromes in these colours, deliberately purging the picture surface of any extraneous and distracting details, leaving a glowing plane in a single hue into which the viewer could become immersed. Monochrome rose sans titre (MP 27) was created at a moment of consolidation, when he applied a new rigour to these creations, limiting his palette to these three, which he considered to be substitutes for the colours visible in flames.