Yves Klein was one of the premier artists of the post-war generation, an influential figure in European art circles, and a leading member of the French artistic movement Nouveau Réalisme, founded in 1960 by art critic Pierre Restany. Following in the footsteps of his parents, who were both painters and active in the Parisian avant-garde, Klein attended the École Nationale de la Marine Marchande. As a young artist, his work evolved into a combination of conceptual art, performance art, and environmental art.
Yves Klein and the Meaning of Blue
Preoccupied with the subject of infinity, Klein explored the idea in his early works and writings. The spiritual significance of infinity ultimately led him to create some of his most important artistic achievements.
In 1961, Klein created a trademark ultramarine pigment with a signature shade of blue and patented it as International Klein Blue.
“Blue is beyond dimensions, whereas the other colours are not,” Klein famously said. “All colours arouse specific ideas, while blue suggests at most the sea and the sky; and they, after all, are in actual, visible nature what is most abstract.”
Klein believed that blue had qualities close to pure space, associating it with a realm beyond what could be seen or touched.
The Creation of the Yves Klein Table
In the early 1960s, Klein’s artistic endeavours moved into the world of furniture design with the creation of an elegant trio of low Plexiglas, glass, and steel tables. Each table was filled with bold materials that appeared to be suspended in space with a sense of limitless depth.
The result was a brilliant series of prototypes beginning with Table Bleue in 1961, containing Klein’s iconic International Klein Blue pigment. The work was created shortly before Klein died suddenly in 1962 at the age of 34 from a heart attack.
Under the supervision of Yves Klein’s widow, Rotraut Klein-Moquay, the Yves Klein Estate in Paris has overseen production of the Yves Klein coffee table editions from 1963 to the present.
Why No Two Yves Klein Tables Are Alike
While each Yves Klein Table contains pigment or material inside a Plexiglas box, no two tables are exactly alike. The dry powder creates a unique variety of textures and patterns, with subtle surface variations that give every piece its own visual character.
Still in production today, the iconic tables have become status symbols of elegant style and décor in the high-priced world of luxury real estate, where exclusivity carries significant weight. For those with the financial resources, the artistic tables are available for purchase from the Yves Klein Private Collection in New York.
The Yves Klein Estate produces a limited number of controlled-edition tables each year, shipping directly from Paris to collectors around the world. Each Private Collection piece receives a signed and numbered placard of authenticity issued by the estate. Prices for a new Yves Klein Table Bleue start at a lofty $20,500 USD, while early-edition models regularly sell at auction for significantly more.
Table Bleue, Table Rose, and Table d’Or
Blue is not the only colour available inside an Yves Klein Table, though it remains the most famous example of his work. Klein designed the table in three materials most common to his practice at the time: International Klein Blue pigment for Table Bleue, rose pigment for Table Rose, and gold leaf for Table d’Or.
Table Bleue
Table Bleue is the most recognisable of the series, filled with Klein’s signature International Klein Blue pigment. Its intense ultramarine depth gives the table a sensation of vastness, abstraction, and suspended space.
Table Rose
Table Rose uses the same pigment-based concept as Table Bleue, but creates a completely different emotional effect. Where Table Bleue suggests infinity and immaterial depth, Table Rose offers a calmer, more romantic presence.
Table d’Or
The unmistakably brilliant Table d’Or, filled with 3,000 sheets of gold leaf beneath a glass surface, is a stunning representation of luxury extravagance. The table blurs the line between function and art, transforming a coffee table into a sculpture of “living matter.”
The gold leaves within Table d’Or seem alive through their static motion, shifting light in an abstract passage from the visible to the invisible. Often seen only in galleries across the globe, a 1963 edition Yves Klein Table d’Or sold for $125,000 USD on June 11, 2014, at a Design New York auction.
Contemporary Art as Modern Luxury Furniture
A limited-edition Yves Klein Table can be considered the ultimate piece of contemporary art as modern furniture, elevating the style and décor of any home with an exclusive statement of timeless luxury.
As designer David Netto famously said, “You’re not living until you have an Yves Klein coffee table.”
