Artwork, 1959, ca.

Project for a Public Square

"Fire for me is the future without forgetting the past. It is the memory of nature. The project of a public fountain upon which would dance jets of fire rather that jets of water and the construction of walls of fire in the architecture of air is an idea that dates back to 1951. I became ecstatic at the sight of fountains and the jets of water at La Granja, the summer palace of the old Spanish monarchy, some eighty kilometers from Madrid, in every regard similar to Versailles. It is there that I imagined substituting brilliant jets of fire for the elegant jets of water above the tranquil surface water of the fountain basins. Sculptures of fire above water … Why not?"
Yves Klein, excerpt from « Lecture at The Sorbonne », 1959, Overcoming the problematics of Art -The writings of Yves Klein, Spring Publications, 2007
Technical Ink on tracing paper mounted on canvas
Dimensions 23 x 31cm