This summer, the windows of our Neuchâtel jeweller's shop are decked out in blue. Not just any blue, but the deep and intense copyright-protected Klein blue named after the painter Yves Klein, who registered it in 1960 with the French industrial property institute (INPI).
In 1957, the painter chose to paint in blue, which he viewed as the most abstract colour: "All colours lead to concrete associations of ideas [...] whereas blue reminds us at most of sea and sky, the most abstract expressions of tangible and visible nature.” He worked to find a combination of pigments and binder that would preserve the luminosity of this blue while respecting its depth. He achieved this in 1960, creating the luminous, matt ultramarine blue that now bears his name.
