Yves Klein’s mystification. Against Thierry de Duve

Abstract

In between modernism and postmodernism Yves Klein hovered over the verge of mysticism and mystification, abstraction and corporeity, paint, fire and air. Registered paint formula, patent for remote artworks creation, immaterial paintings, checks for the void transfer, architecture from air, flight from the window - here is an incomplete list of inventions that allowed Klein to gain the reputation of an ingenious magician in white gloves. However these inventions gave reason for some researchers as Thierry de Duve to invalidly blame Klein for falsification of his achievements: assimilation of artistic value to price, excogitation of non-existent works and self-mystification to the point of credulity. This article attempts to contest the accusations of the critic and to prove the legitimacy of the mystifying devices used by Klein both in the context of transition period between modernism and post-modernism, and as an avant-guard strategy.