The Stedelijk Museum Schiedam is proud to present 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.
Marie Raymond, Yves Klein and Fred Klein, 1954, photo ©: All rights reserved, © Yves Klein Archief c/o ADAGP, Paris
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.
Yves Klein, Planetary Relief ‘Région de Grenoble’, (RP 10), 1961, posthumous edition ca. 1990, dry pigment and synthetic resin on bronze, 86 x 65 cm, © The Estate of Yves Klein c/o ADAGP, Paris
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, Maternité [Maternity], 1929, oil on canvas, 73 x 54 cm, private collection, © Frits Klein c/o ADAGP, Paris
While in Paris, he maintained connections with various Dutch artists and regularly exhibited in the Netherlands. Notable exhibitions include the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam in 1965, the Rijksakademie voor Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam in 1968, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in 1978, and Pulchri in The Hague in 1988.
His works are included in the National Collection, the art collection of the Dutch Central Bank, and the Centraal Museum in Utrecht. They can also be found in the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam and in private collections across the Netherlands.
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.
Marie Raymond, Sans titre [Untitled], 1948, oil on canvas, 64,5 x 81 cm, © Marie Raymond Archives, ADAGP, Paris, private collection
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.”
Yves Klein, Résonance [Resonance], (MG 16), 1960, gold leaves on panel, 199 x 153 cm, collection Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, © The Estate of Yves Klein c/o ADAGP, Paris
Yves Klein
Yves Klein (1928-1962) was born in Nice. Initially, it was unclear whether he would follow in his parents’ artistic footsteps. After repeatedly dropping out of various courses and rambling around, he travelled to Japan in 1952, where he trained in judo and earned a black belt 4th at the Kodokan Judo Institute in Tokyo, thus reaching the highest level in Europe. Through this sport, Klein found an outlet for his fascination with body posture, movement, and energy – elements that would later find expression in his art.
In 1954, he took part in a judo competition in Utrecht against the well-known Anton Geesink. On the same year, the French judo community, refused to recognize his Japanese diploma. Having lost hope of ever leading the French Judo Federation, Yves turned his attention more towards art. Yves eventually made his artistic debut in 1955 with a solo exhibition titled Yves – Peintures at the Club des Solitaires Editions Lacoste in Paris, where he displayed his monochrome canvases for the first time. He exhibited monochromes of different colours and chose to focus on blue since 1957. The intense blue monochromes in particular prove to be an appealing representation of infinity and are intended to reflect the immateriality of space. This unique formula combing ultramarine pigments and a new binder allowing to preserve its intensity was patented in 1960 as International Klein Blue (IKB) and became Yves Klein’s ultimate artistic signature. But his work was much more than that: he collaborated with human models as living brushes, leaving imprints on canvases with their paint-covered bodies. His profound influence on the art world stemmed from a multitude of exhibitions, performances, happenings, and other events, many of which he organised himself. His art is radical, intelligent, versatile and audacious. His parents had very different reactions to his work and success: while his mother Marie Raymond encouraged him, his father Fred Klein remained more critical and distant.
Yves Klein, Zonder titel Antropometrie, (ANT 7), 1960, droog pigment en synthetische hars op papier, 102 x 73 cm, © The Estate of Yves Klein c/o Pictoright Amsterdam, 2026, Foto © : David Bordes
Yves Klein, Zonder titel Roze sponsreliëf, (RE8), 1960, droog pigment en synthetische hars, natuurlijke sponzen, kiezels op paneel, 68 x 22,6 cm, © The Estate of Yves Klein c/o Pictoright Amsterdam, 2026
But his work was much more than that: he used human models as living brushes, leaving imprints on canvases with their paint-covered bodies. His profound influence on the art world stemmed from a multitude of exhibitions, performances, happenings, and other events, many of which he organized himself. His art is radical, intelligent, versatile, and provocative. His parents had very different reactions to his work and success: while his mother Marie Raymond encouraged him, his father Fred remained more critical and distant.
Yves’ work has been seen only sporadically in exhibitions in the Netherlands, with the last exhibition taking place at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in 1965. His artworks are featured in the collections of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, and the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, as well as various private collections.
Rotraut
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” in 1956 by placing drops of flower mixed with water on a wooden panel, which she then covered with black Chinese ink before sanding it down, she created points of light reminiscent of stars in the cosmos. She exhibited these painted Galaxies in 1959 at the New Vision gallery of London and in 1964 at the Amsterdam art gallery Amstel 47. In her series Vol de sensibilité she explores the sensitivity to form of painters such as Rubens, Cézanne, and Gauguin. She achieves this by projecting slides of their paintings onto large sheets of paper and then emphatically overpainting the colours in a way that reflects her own feelings about the movements. 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.
Rotraut, Trou noir (Zwart gat), ca. 1972, acryl op doek gemonteerd op multiplex, 100 x 73,2 cm, © Rotraut c/o Pictoright Amsterdam, 2026
Marie Raymond, Le Monde étoilé (De sterrenwereld), 1969, olieverf op doek, 116 x 73 cm, © Marie Raymond Archives, c/o Pictoright Amsterdam, 2026
The exhibition
Spanning three floors of one wing of the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, the exhibition Yves Klein and His Artist Family: Fred, Marie and Rotraut presents the works of four artists. In addition to their art, the exhibition features extensive archival materials – including letters, photographs, and printed documents – that illuminate the family members’ lives and their distinctive connections to the Netherlands.
Through the art created within this single family, the museum traces the evolution from figuration to abstraction and the emergence of conceptual art. The exhibition also emphasizes that this progression is not linear but rather a convergence of diverse artistic perspectives that have long coexisted.
Portrait of Rotraut and Yves Klein during their trip in the United States, 1961, New York Harbor, photo ©: All rights reserved
Concept and development
With Yves Klein and His Artist Family, the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam once again offers an exhibition that sheds light on an international artists from an unexpected and Dutch perspective. Previous examples include Manzoni in Holland (2019) and Yayoi Kusama: The Dutch Years 1965-1970 (2023-2024). These exhibitions have laid the foundation for introducing Yves Klein and His Artist Family, a family of globally celebrated artists, to a wide and varied audience.
Mattijs Visser from the 0-Institute developed the concept for this exhibition and was also responsible for the Yayoi Kusama exhibition. Colin Huizing, who previously curated the Piero Manzoni exhibition, joins Visser on the curatorial team.
The exhibition Yves Klein and His Artist Family: Fred, Marie and Rotraut was created in close collaboration with Yves Klein Archives and Foundation, as well as Marie Raymond Archives.
Publication
A book of the same title will be published in Dutch and English by MER. Books in Ghent, compiled by curator Tijs Visser (director of 0-INSTITUUT) with contributions from co-curator Colin Huizing and authors Robert Fleck, Michèle Gazier, Bianca Stigter, and Victor Vanoosten. Price €29.00, ISBN 9789493491335 (Dutch edition) and ISBN 9789493491366 (English edition), soon available at Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, in bookstores, and online via Merbooks.com.
With thanks to
Municipality of Schiedam, Blockbuster Fund: VriendenLoterij, VSB Fund, the Cultural Fund, Van den Ende Foundation, FONDS Schiedam Vlaardingen e.o., Mondriaan Fund, Turing Foundation, De Groot Fund, and Zabawas.