Winged Victory of Samothrace

This small plaster sculpture, not even 50 centimetres in height, was made by Yves Klein in 1962. It is placed at the top, inside a shrine fixed to the wall. It features the famous Greek sculpture “Nike of Samothrace” preserved at the Louvre in Paris. It depicts a young winged goddess without her head or arms, wearing a long, light dress that - due to the wind blowing - clings to her body allowing us to see her body shape, while some flaps sway in the breeze. However, in this case the statue is adorned with the unmistakable blue paint of Yves Klein's work.
The French artist's first works were the famous “blue monochromes”. During his short but significant career, he distinguished himself by the use of the pigment which became his trademark, patenting in 1960 the IKB (International Klein Blue), a particular paint with an intense colour and a glossy finish. The cloth covered by IKB is emptied of the material and becomes intangible, exemplifying the relationship between full and empty.
In order to promote the renewal of art, Klein reproduced some antiquity masterpieces in plaster and painted them with his blue hue. Thus with Winged Victory of Samothrace, Michelangelo’s Slave, Praxiteles’ Aphrodite of Knidos, the artist makes use of IKB to free subjects from classical matter and tradition.