Record at Christie's! Yves Klein's Iconic Blue Sold for $21.4 Million

One color, four meters, and a price that will literally make your head spin. Yves Klein's "California" sold at Christie's in Paris for a staggering $21.4 million.

A record was broken at Christie's Paris auction house . Yves Klein's monumental work, California (IKB 71), measuring over 4 meters wide, sold for €18.4 million . This is the highest price ever achieved for a work by this artist at a French auction. The painting was the star of the evening at the " Avant-garde(s) including Thinking Italian " sale, attracting the attention of not only connoisseurs but also an international audience.

Painting California, Yves Klein, 1961. Photo: Press materials / Christie's

Yves Klein was one of the most fascinating and rebellious figures of the postwar avant-garde. He was born in Nice in 1928 to a family of artists—his parents were also painters.

Yves Klein revolutionized art with color, specifically International Klein Blue. The deep, almost hypnotic ultramarine became his artistic signature. For Klein, it symbolized infinity and the pure idea of ​​art—much like Kazimir Malevich's "Black Square" for abstract art.

Yves Klein himself was an icon of the 1950s and 1960s. He experimented with form, space, and the body. He created numerous performances, employed acrobats and musicians, and his art was always a sensual experience.

Created in 1961, California (IKB 71) is Klein's largest work in his distinctive blue hue and one of the few to bear the title.

The artist named it after California. The composition reflects the colors of the California ocean and sky.

The painting has a rich collecting history: after the artist's death in 1962, it became part of the collection of Swiss collector Georges Marci and then of the Pace Gallery in New York. For several years, it was also part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's exhibition, becoming a quiet icon of the 20th-century avant-garde.

The sale of "California" was one of the most anticipated events of the auction season. It was offered as the cover lot at the prestigious "Avant-garde(s) including Thinking Italian" sale at Christie's in Paris. With an estimate ranging from €16 million to €25 million , the sale generated excitement from the outset, and the bidding confirmed its exceptional standing. After intense competition among several collectors, the hammer fell at €18.4 million —setting a new sales record for Klein in France.

The artist's previous auction record comes from 2013, when a sculpture made of blue sponges, resembling a flower , was sold at Sotheby's in New York for $22 million.