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Yves Klein L'Ours Pompon For Sale
Yves Klein
L'Ours Pompon, 2022
Hand-made resin bear with International Klein Blue (IKB) pigment in custom acrylic box
10 5/8 x 7 1/2 x 19 1/4 in27 x 19 x 49 cm
Edition
Edition of 999 + 199 APs
About this work
Yves Klein, a renowned French artist, created L'Ours Pompon as an homage to the famous sculpture by François Pompon. Klein, known for his signature International Klein Blue (IKB), transformed the original white bear sculpture by covering it entirely in his vivid blue hue. This act of applying his unique blue pigment to the sculpture not only pays tribute to Pompon's work but also imbues it with Klein's distinctive artistic philosophy, which emphasizes the immateriality and boundlessness of color. François Pompon, a celebrated sculptor of the early 20th century, was renowned for his simplified and elegant animal forms. His original Ours Blanc (White Bear) is a quintessential example of his style, characterized by smooth, flowing lines and an absence of intricate details, which captures the essence of the animal in a modern, minimalist way. Klein's reinterpretation of Pompon's bear aligns with his own artistic pursuits, where he often sought to strip objects and forms down to their purest essence, using color as a primary means of expression. Klein's decision to cover L'Ours Pompon in IKB is significant not only for its aesthetic impact but also for its conceptual implications. The deep, vibrant blue is intended to evoke a sense of the infinite and the immaterial, qualities that Klein believed could transcend the physical limitations of the object. By enveloping Pompon's bear in this color, Klein creates a piece that challenges viewers to reconsider their perception of space, form, and color. The blue bear stands as a symbol of Klein's belief in the power of color to communicate profound and intangible ideas. L'Ours Pompon by Yves Klein is more than just a reinterpretation of a classic sculpture; it is a dialogue between two artists across time. Klein's use of his iconic blue not only transforms the physical appearance of Pompon's work but also infuses it with a new layer of meaning. This transformation invites viewers to reflect on the interplay between form and color, the material and the immaterial, and the ways in which contemporary artists can pay homage to their predecessors while pushing the boundaries of artistic expression.
Price on Application
Auction History
L'OURS POMPON · Yves Klein · Bonhams · 2023-06 · $9,626
More from this series
More series by Yves Klein
About the Sculptures Series
Explore Yves Klein's iconic Sculpture series, featuring the French avant-garde master's revolutionary approach to three-dimensional form. This collection encompasses Klein's most celebrated works, including reimagined classical pieces like Victoire de Samothrace and Venus d'Alexandrie, alongside his signature monochromatic creations in International Klein Blue (IKB). Each sculpture demonstrates Klein's pioneering use of vivid pigmentation and unconventional materials to challenge traditional aesthetic boundaries. From the delicate Petite Venus to the striking Table Blue Klein and Table Monopink, these works represent a pivotal moment in post-war contemporary art where sculpture transcended conventional representation. The series also features experimental pieces such as Untitled (IKB Stamps) and L'Ours Pompon, showcasing Klein's versatility and conceptual depth. Highly sought after by serious collectors, these sculptures command significant market presence and remain essential examples of kinetic and color field innovation. Enquire for availability and authentication details on these museum-quality works.
About Yves Klein
Yves Klein (1928–1962, Nice, France) was one of the most radically inventive and philosophically ambitious artists of the postwar era, a figure who in fewer than a dozen active years transformed the possibilities of painting, performance, sculpture, and conceptual art with an urgency and totality that has only grown in significance since his death at the age of thirty-four. The son of two painters, Klein grew up in an artistic household in Nice before his life was redirected, unexpectedly, by judo: he spent years studying in Japan, achieving a fourth-dan black belt, an experience that introduced him to Zen philosophy and a concept of presence, emptiness, and discipline that would run through all of his subsequent art.
Klein's most famous achievement was the development of International Klein Blue — IKB — a specific ultramarine pigment suspended in a synthetic resin binder that he developed in collaboration with a Parisian chemist and registered as his own. The colour, which possesses an extraordinary matte depth quite unlike standard artist's ultramarine, became the medium of his most significant works. His Monochromes — paintings of a single, unbroken IKB surface — proposed colour as the subject of painting rather than its vehicle, removing composition, form, and gesture in favour of pure chromatic experience. The works invite the viewer into something close to meditation, and their apparent simplicity conceals a philosophical position of genuine radicalism. His Anthropométries, made between 1960 and 1962, used the bodies of nude female models coated in IKB as living brushes, dragged or pressed against canvases before an audience in formal dress — works that anticipated performance art while producing objects of extraordinary physical beauty. His Sponge Sculptures — natural sea sponges saturated in IKB and mounted on metal — transformed found organic matter into objects of meditative concentration. His Fire Paintings, made by directing gas flames across treated cardboard, and his Cosmogonies, produced by exposing canvases to wind and rain, extended his investigation of elemental forces as artistic agents.
Klein's auction record stands at $36,700,000 for Le Rose du bleu (IKB 1957) at Sotheby's New York in 2012. Archisculpture achieved £12,700,000 at Christie's London in 2008, and Monochrome M 82 reached £5,800,000 at Sotheby's London in 2010. His influence on Conceptual Art, Minimalism, and performance art is incalculable; few artists who died so young have left a legacy of such sustained importance.
Klein's work is held at the Museum of Modern Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tate Modern, the Centre Pompidou, Museum Ludwig Cologne, the National Gallery of Art Washington, and the Hirshhorn Museum, among many others.
Guy Hepner offers expert guidance on Yves Klein prints and editions from our gallery at 177 Tenth Avenue, New York. Given the importance and market sensitivity of works by Klein, we bring rigorous attention to authentication and provenance with every transaction. We offer free, confidential valuations for collectors holding Klein works and connections to serious buyers worldwide.