Klein's Blue Monochrome Painting Sells for $21M, Setting a French Record for the Artist

A monochromatic blue canvas by French artist Yves Klein has sold for €18.4 million (more than US $21 million) at auction, the most a Klein painting has sold for in France. 

The sale underscores the enduring market strength of Klein’s signature use of deep ultramarine pigment and his pivotal role in post-war art.

The painting, created in 1961, is part of Klein’s celebrated monochrome series executed in what is known as his trademark shade, International Klein Blue (IKB).

Klein’s intention with his monochromes was radical: to present colour stripped of representation, thereby evoking the immaterial, the infinite and the viewer’s direct engagement with pure visual sensation. 

This landmark auction result reflects both the rarity and market demand for works by Klein, who died in 1962 at just 34 years old. With relatively few large‐scale pieces available, his work has long attracted significant interest, particularly artworks that embody his philosophy of colour as experience rather than depiction. The fresh record for a French sale highlights the regional appetite for post-war and contemporary art. 

Beyond its monetary value, the sale invites renewed attention to Klein’s pioneering methods. He developed IKB by combining ultramarine pigment with a synthetic resin binder to preserve its vividness and luminosity—ensuring that the blue would retain its intensity and symbolic resonance.

By doing so, Klein positioned colour itself as the subject, challenging conventional notions of form, figure and representation.

The painting’s successful auction also signals how minimalist, conceptual works continue to resonate in the art market and among collectors. As tastes evolve and institutional recognition of mid-20th-century art deepens, blue monochromes like this one are increasingly seen not only as historical statements but also as active players in today’s art ecosystem.

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