Le Vide 1958 | Little artnecdotes

An empty gallery space. Nothing more, nothing less. You’d expect to find something, something even tiny. However the space itself is the exhibit. The work called La spécialisation de la sensibilité à l’état matière première en sensibilité picturale stabilisée, is quite a mouthful for such a minimalistic piece. Better known as Le Vide (The Void) it was just a white painted, empty room, except for a large cabinet. ’Nouveau réaliste’ Yves Klein (1928-1962) presented it at the Iris Clert gallery in Paris from April 28 to May 15 1958. The opening night was in itself a memorable happening. The exterior window was painted in the famous IKB blue (International Klein Blue, an ultramarine color created by Klein) and the entrance lobby was framed with an enormous blue theatre curtain. Republican guards welcomed visitors at the door and complimentary blue cocktails were on hand. Thanks to a huge publicity drive, almost 3000 people showed up and crammed the street and the gallery space. Famous writer and thinker Albert Camus was one of the guests and wrote the words ‘avec le vide, les pleins pouvoirs’ (with the void, full powers) in the visitors’ book.

The emptying and whitewashing of the place was for Klein a manifesto of immateriality, a concept central to his thinking. During his career he sought to embrace void and space by using different mediums as painting, sculpture, or performance.