The Stedelijk Museum Schiedam presents a landmark exhibition: Yves Klein and His Artist Family: Fred, Marie and Rotraut. For the first time, this exhibition brings together the works of the Klein family, featuring Yves Klein (1928-1962), his parents Fred Klein (1898-1990) and Marie Raymond (1908-1988), and his wife Rotraut Uecker (1938). While Yves Klein is celebrated worldwide for his iconic monochrome paintings, many are unaware that his family members were also accomplished artists, each with a deep passion for colour and the cosmos. It is also less well-known that Yves Klein’s parents were dual French and Dutch nationals, which established a lasting connection with the Netherlands. The exhibition not only highlights the artistic dialogue within the family but also their ties to the Netherlands, particularly to Schiedam, which houses several works by Fred Klein. This exhibition features, for the first time in 65 years in the Netherlands, around thirty works by Yves Klein and forty works by members of his family.
When we think of Yves Klein, his distinctive shade of blue – International Klein Blue, which he patented in 1960 – immediately comes to mind. Throughout his brief yet remarkable life, he was surrounded by a colourful family of artists. His father, mother, and wife were all engaged in their own artistic pursuits, inspiring and challenging one another. Although Yves Klein’s work is still celebrated internationally, it has been decades since an exhibition of his work was held in the Netherlands. Thanks to close collaboration with the Yves Klein Archives in Paris, a significant number of his works, as well of his family members, will be displayed together in a Dutch museum.
Although the works of the Klein family members were created independently, they share a remarkable affinity for vibrant colours and a profound interest in the cosmos. Through this, they create new worlds. The exhibition Yves Klein and His Artist Family shows the similarities and differences in their oeuvres.
Fred Klein (1898–1990) was born in Bandung, Indonesia. He moved to the Netherlands with his family at the age of five. He spent much of his adult life shuttling between Paris and Wassenaar. He painted landscapes, including beaches and parks, as well as circus scenes featuring horses. His dreamlike paintings suggest the influence of Claude Monet, Pierre Bonnard, and William Turner. Fred Klein is often referred to as the ‘painter of light’, but his work is thematically closer to that of Marc Chagall and Giorgio de Chirico.
Fred Klein married the French woman Marie Raymond, who acquired Dutch citizenship through their marriage. In the 1950s, Marie Raymond (1908-1988) organised weekly salon gatherings for Parisian artists, museum directors, writers and scientists and had a column as an art critic in the Dutch magazine ‘Kroniek van Kunst en Kultuur’, making her an ambassador for Parisian artistic life in the Netherlands until 1958. Her paintings initially consist of framed planes of colour; later, in the 1950s, these evolved into standalone planes of colour and loose forms. In 1956, she exhibited at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, which also holds one of her works in its collection. In 1957, she exhibited at the Utrechtse Kring, a cultural hub for visual artists, writers, musicians, and other creatives. Her work can also be found in private collections.
In the same year that Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam organised a solo exhibition of their son, the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam hosted a solo show for Fred Klein (1965). Despite the prevailing trend of abstraction in the post-war art scene, a significant audience remained devoted to Fred Klein’s figurative works. The Stedelijk Museum Schiedam acquired the large canvas The Flower Shop for its collection. A few years earlier, in 1957, the museum had exhibited Sérénité du Printemps, a work by Yves’s mother, Marie Raymond.
Rotraut, born Rotraut Uecker (1938), is an artist who creates drawings, paintings, and sculptures inspired by the forms and phenomena of nature and the cosmos. In 1958, she met Yves Klein, with whom she began an intensive collaboration. They married in 1962, shortly before his death. Rotraut created her first works entitled “Galaxies”. Today, Rotraut is still active as an artist. Over the years and decades, she has taken care of the creative legacy of Fred, Marie and Yves and is therefore closely involved in realising this exhibition.
Director Anne de Haij: “It is remarkable that the works of Yves Klein and his partner Rotraut can now be added to the illustrious exhibition history of the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam. That brings things full circle.”
HFA Artists: