Artwork, 1957

Pure Pigment

"Pure Pigments – Pure pigment, exhibited on the ground, became painting itself rather than a hung picture; the fixative medium being the most immaterial possible, that is to say, it is a force of attraction that directed only toward itself . It did not alter the pigment grains, as inevitably does oil, glue, or even my own special fixative. The only trouble with this: one naturally stands upright and gazes toward the horizon."
Yves Klein, excerpt from « Notes on Certain Works Exhibited at the Colette Allendy Gallery », 1957
"The possibility of leaving the grains of pigment entirely free, such as they are in powder form, mixed perhaps yet still independent in their semblance, seemed sufficiently auspicious to me. Art is total freedom; it is life; when there is imprisonment in whatever manner, liberty is restrained and life is diminished in relation to the degree of imprisonment." 
To leave the powdered pigment as free as I had it seen at the paint suppliers, while presenting them as a painting, it would simply be necessary to spread it on the ground. The invisible force of gravity would keep it down to the surface of the ground without altering it."
Yves Klein, excerpt from « The Monochrome Adventure: the monochrome epic », 1960 ca.

Technical Dry blue pigment in a wooden tray exhibited at Galerie Colette Allendy, Paris, France