L'esclave mourant d'après Michel Ange (Dying Slave after Michelangelo)
This striking sculpture by Yves Klein reimagines Michelangelo's *Dying Slave* entirely submerged in Klein's iconic International Klein Blue, the vivid ultramarine pigment that became the artist's signature obsession. The familiar contours of the Renaissance masterpiece are preserved yet transformed, the figure's languid, sensuous form now unified under a single, all-consuming hue that strips away historical context and replaces it with pure chromatic intensity. By appropriating and "Kleinizing" a celebrated work of Western art, the piece challenges notions of originality and authorship while elevating color itself to the status of spiritual and artistic essence.
- Medium
- Synthetic resin with IKB pigment,
- Location
- Phillips, Salt Lake City, UT
- Spotted At
- Auction House · PhillipsView on map
🔨 Auction Lot
Evening & Day Editions
June 12, 2014
Artists in conversation
Lucio Fontana
Italian-Argentine · b. 1899
Fontana shared Klein's obsession with reducing sculpture and surface to pure chromatic and spatial essence, often working in monochrome ceramic and resin forms that prioritize color as concept over representational detail. His Concetto Spaziale works similarly use a single unified surface treatment to transcend traditional sculptural meaning.
John De Andrea
American · b. 1941
De Andrea creates hyper-detailed figurative sculptures in synthetic resin that engage directly with the classical tradition of the human figure, mirroring Klein's use of resin as a medium to reimagine canonical figurative forms. His work similarly bridges the gap between classical sculptural idealism and contemporary material experimentation.
Arman
French · b. 1928
As a fellow Nouveau Réaliste closely allied with Klein, Arman similarly appropriated and transformed existing objects and cultural forms through obsessive repetition and material recontextualization. His practice of taking recognizable forms and subsuming them within a single overwhelming conceptual gesture directly parallels Klein's Kleinization of Michelangelo's masterpiece.
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