The French artist Yves Klein (1928-62) was one of the most groundbreaking and influential artists of the 20th century. Such a legacy casts long shadows—and sometimes over those who are closest. A new exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam in the Netherlands brings together the work of Yves with that of his family members who also made art: his father Fred Klein, his mother Marie Raymond and his widow Rotraut Klein-Moquay (known as Rotraut), who continues to practise art today.
Yves Klein and His Artist Family is based on years of research by the 0-Institute—which studies artists from the Zero movement such as Yves—in collaboration with the Yves Klein Archives in Paris. Tijs Visser, the founding director of the institute, is the exhibition’s guest curator.
Visser started exploring the Klein family after questions were raised about the authenticity of an unusual painting that was believed to be by Yves but was signed only as “Klein”.
Revelation
“What followed was an astonishing revelation: Fred Klein’s works were widely collected at the time by Dutch collectors,” writes Visser in the introduction to the exhibition catalogue. He discovered that works by Fred, Yves and Raymond could be found in the collections of major museums in Amsterdam, Utrecht and Schiedam, as well as institutions such as the Dutch National Bank and the government’s holdings. He also found an extensive archive on Fred Klein at the RKD (Netherlands Institute for Art History). “And yet, until now, this rich legacy has remained largely unexamined,” Visser says.
The exhibition includes 30 works by Yves shown alongside more than 40 pieces by his parents and partner. “Each of their oeuvres reflects significant developments in 20th-century Modern art history,” says Lieke Wijnia, a senior curator at Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, who co-organised the show. “Fred positions his work in the footsteps of French Impressionists, Marie works in line with Abstract Expressionism. Yves was the most conceptual of all, with his focus on the essence and infinity of colour, and Rotraut shared his fascination for the universe and the cosmos, and developed a very spiritual approach to her work.”
The work in the show also sheds light on Yves’s little-known ties to the Netherlands. Fred and Marie held Dutch passports, and both regularly exhibited in the town of Schiedam. Fred even had a major show at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Yves would also visit the country. “It was during these formative visits that he encountered the works of Van Gogh and Vermeer in Amsterdam,” Visser writes. “These experiences shaped his artistic sensibilities.”
• Yves Klein and His Artist Family: Fred, Marie and Rotraut, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, until 25 October