A film by François Levy-Kuentz
52 min - Documentary - 2006
French with English subtitles

 Synopsis & critique
Un portrait partagé entre l’analyse d’une œuvre unique et - éclairé par l’anecdote - le cheminement d’une aventure humaine et artistique hors du commun. Il avance comme une épopée documentée, comme le feuilleton d’une pensée inscrite dans l’action. Le film insiste sur l’importance de son apport dans le contexte artistique de l’époque. Il dégage ainsi l’essentiel d’une "vision" qui a révolutionné l’histoire de la peinture moderne.

The inventor of the monochrome and the happening, Yves Klein (1928-1962) is a true prodigy. His career lasted only eight years, from 1954 to 1962, but he managed nonetheless to shake the foundations of modern art. Today, his radical and visionary work enjoys mythical status. Although his name might only evoke the celebrated IKB (International Klein Blue) and monochrome canvases, his work extends well beyond the realm of painting. For the artist attacked a variety of genres : performances that prefigured conceptual art, architectural projects, sound art, ballet choreographies, film sets, writing. Featuring unreleased archival material, including Klein’s own films, this portrait produced for the recent retrospective at the Pompidou Centre examines the artist’s meteoric career and a multiform body of works that remains to be discovered.

more information


Wednesday 16th July 2008 - 19:00
Entrée Libre / Free for all
Hall de l’Alliance française du Cap
155, Loop Street, Le Cap
Tel : 021- 423 5699