As an artist I spend a considerable amount of time considering colour. Contemplating, among other things, how to mix colours, their effects, their relationships to other colours, their symbolism and meaning. I looked recently at works by Yves Klein at MAMAC and was (once again) struck by his powerful use of colour.
Klein’s monochrome paintings are particularly stunning. Through experimentation he realised that the traditional linseed oil most painters use made the paint dull. He went on to develop his own paint using pure ultramarine pigment and synthetic resin to achieve a brilliant blue, now known as International Klein Blue.
Seeing Klein’s paintings close up and being able to look at the intensity of the colour and the thickness of the paint brings the materiality of paint into focus. Through Klein’s work we can see clearly the possibilities of colour and what it is capable of doing.
