On April 11, 2024, Lévy Gorvy Dayan opened Yves Klein and the Tangible World, an exhibition devoted to the engagement of the body in the visionary French artist’s oeuvre. Curated in collaboration with the Yves Klein Foundation, the presentation brought together nearly 30 examples of Yves Klein’s Anthropométries (1960–62) and Peintures de feu (Fire Paintings, 1961–62), as well as Sculpture tactile (Tactile Sculpture, conceived c. 1957) in the first focused juxtaposition of these works.

Klein’s paintings affirm his conviction that art should exude life. His Anthropométries and Peintures de feu exemplify this ethos, possessing traces of living flesh and imprinted memories of fire, water, earth, and air. Klein once wrote, “The link between spirit and matter is energy. The combined mechanism of these three elements generates our tangible world, which is claimed to be real but is in fact ephemeral.” Through direct physical contact and alchemy, energy is captured and transferred in the works on view, binding the soul and the material support.

On the occasion of the exhibition Yves Klein and the Tangible World, Lévy Gorvy Dayan presented a performance of Klein’s Monotone-Silence Symphony at St. James’ Church, New York, on Wednesday, May 1, at 6:30 pm.