(Nice 1928–1962 Paris)
Vénus bleue - La Vénus d’Alexandrie, 1962–82, International Klein Blue, synthetic resin on plaster, stamped on the underside: Venus bleue de Yves Klein and numbered 93/300, 69 x 25 x 25 cm

No. 93 from an edition of 300, edited by Galerie Bonnier, Geneva.

Photo Certificate:
Rotraut Klein Moquay

Provenance:
Galerie Bonnier, Geneva
European private collection

Literature:
Paul Wember, Yves Klein, Catalogue raisonné, Cologne 1969, No. S41;
Pierre Restany, Yves Klein, Paris, 1985, ill. p. 204 (a different cast);
Yves Klein, Exhibition catalogue Cologne, Museum Ludwig;
Düsseldorf, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westphalia;
London, Hayward Gallery;
Madrid, Museo Nacional Centro Arte Reina Sofia;
1994–1995, no. 111 with ill. page 247 (a different cast);
Yves Klein, Exhibition catalogue Lisbon, Galeria Antonio Prates, 1998, with ill. page 5 (a different cast);
Jean-Paul Ledeur, Yves Klein, Catalogue raisonné des éditions et des sculptures éditées, Knokke-le-Zoute, 2000, no. S41 with ill. page 234 (a different cast);
Nicolas Charlet, Yves Klein, Paris, 2000, ill. page 231 (a different cast);
Yves Klein, La Vie, la vie elle-même qui est l’art absolu;
Exhibition catalogue Nice, Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain;
Prato, Museo Pecci; 2000–2001, ill. page 183 (a different cast)

“Venus of Alexandria” was the name given to Praxiteles’ Aphrodite of Cnidus, the goddess of beauty and love, which was sculpted in 350 BC. The Romans referred to replicas of the statue as Venus, the goddess of gardens, and only later the goddess of love and beauty.