At the end of February 1961, after the opening of his retrospective exhibition at the Krefeld Museum in Germany, the French artist Yves Klein took leave of the Director, Dr. Wember, and went with his future wife Rotraut Uecker, to the convent of Santa Rita da Cascia, near Perugia, in Umbria. The purpose of this journey was to deliver an ex-voto offered to the Saint.
He was to hand it over without making himself known, to the turn sister at the cloister door of the convent of the Augustinian Sisters. The Augustinian nuns live by the rules of St. Benedict, which are "alleviated" when they look after the sick or serve in hospitals. The convent of Santa Rita da Cascia is exclusively responsible for the upkeep of the sanctuary and for the cult of the Saint.
The votive offering deposited by Yves Klein in February 1961 consisted of a transparent plastic casket measuring approximately 22 x 15 cm, and divided into several compartments. The top part was composed of three containers filled respectively with ultramarine pigment (the I.K.B. blue), pink pigment (monopink) and gold foil (monogold). The full length of the bottom part contained three gold ingots of different weights, resting on a bed of blue pigment. The fine gold ingots were the product of the first four sales of Zones of Immaterial Pictorial Sensibility.
The central part of the casket consists of a broad slot in which was deposited a text handwritten by Yves Klein on seven sheets of paper held together by a very thin cotton thread. The text constitutes a veritable hymn of thanksgiving to St. Rita. After having thanked her for the previous favours granted, Yves Klein places himself under the protection of the Saint and invokes her aid to assure the success, beauty and everlasting survival of his work.
Pierre Restany, excerpt from the book "Yves Klein e la mistica di Santa Rita da Cascia", Editoriale Domus, p. 15
Source and additional info
This ex-voto was rediscovered fortuitously, several years after the death of the artist, which occurred in 1962. The damage caused to the monastery by the 1979 earthquake had made a restoration necessary. The painter responsible for making it needed gold. The sisters of the convent brought him the box deposited anonymously and preserved with the other offerings. He recognized there a work of Yves Klein. It was authenticated in 1980 by Pierre Restany and Daniel Moquay. Source Further reading 1. (Italian) 2. 3. Further reading on Zone of Immaterial Pictorial Sensibility 1. 2.
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