Christie's is to offer the "seminal" Accord Bleu from Yves Klein in its forthcoming Post-War and Contemporary Art evening auction, which will be held November 14 in New York.
 The work was a design for Klein's work on the Gelsenkirchen Opera House |
The announcement follows a new $36.7m world record for Yves Klein's in June at another of Christie's Post-War and Contemporary Art sales. His Le rose du bleu topped the previous record, which was set by Fire Colour-1 just one month before at yet another Christie's auction.
Accord Bleu is one of Klein's first relief works to use sponges, a technique that would later become a recurring theme in his work. It is also noted as the one of the earliest uses of the artist's own patented colour, International Klein Blue (IKB), which he developed with the help of chemists to have the same brightness and intensity as dry pigments.
The work was created after Klein was asked to decorate the Gelsenkirchen Opera House in Germany with three other artists. Created as an initial design, the piece serves as a precursor to his final work for the building - six giant murals, four of which were IKB sponge reliefs. It is these monumental creations that saw Klein reach international fame.
Created in 1958, the piece hasn't appeared on the market since 1960. It is inscribed "Gelsenkirchen - 58", which further links it to one of the most important periods in Klein's history, and will sell with a $7m-10m estimate.
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