Yves Klein, "L'Ours Pompon", 2022

Handmade Resin with IKB Finishing
19 × 49 × 27 cm
(7.5 × 19.3 × 10.6 in)
Collaboration between the Estates of Yves Klein and François Pompon.

Numbered, accompanied by certificate with publisher’s stamp and signed by the representatives of the rights holders of the two artists.

Edition of 999.

The piece has been acquired directly from the producer and is safely stored at our premises.

100 years after François Pompon’s success at the Salon d’Automne, the artist’s iconic White Bear meets Yves Klein’s Blue, converging in what is known as L’Ours Pompon. This production is the result of a meticulous collaboration between Yves Klein & François Pompon Estates. The handmade resin sculpture is made from Pompon’s original mold with Blue Klein finishing and positioned in an acryl display case.

In 1962, the year marking his death, Yves Klein recreated universally cherished masterpieces using his distinctive International Klein Blue: the Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, and Michelangelo’s Dying Slave. From 1982 to 1992, these sculptures were produced and are now enthusiastically sought after by collectors worldwide. In 2022 Artémus Éditions, an art publisher with a fervent admiration for Klein’s work, suggested to the Yves Klein Foundation the application of the renowned IKB onto an equally iconic masterpiece: The Polar Bear by François Pompon.

While the sculpture captures the essence of form, the colour encapsulates an essence of its own, in a broader sense, the essence of art. The meticulous standards upheld by the foundations responsible for safeguarding the artists’ reputation have guided the entirety of the production process and achieved a museal result.

“ One captured the essence of form, the other the essence of color – together, they capture the essence of art. „

—Yves Klein Foundation