Christie’s has secured a major consignment for its October 23 sale in Paris: a 14-foot-wide Yves Klein painting titled *California (IKB 71)*, the largest format the artist made in his signature International Klein Blue. Estimated at €16–€25 million ($18–$29 million), the work was created in 1961 and has a newly uncovered provenance, including a stop at Leo Castelli’s New York gallery en route to California. It has been in a New York collection since 2005 and was on long-term loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 2005 to 2008.
The sale tests a picky market’s appetite for ultra-rare works, with Christie’s betting that Klein’s monumental blue painting—a museum-quality piece with a storied history—will attract institutional or top-tier private buyers. The work’s return to Paris, where it was made, underscores the enduring value of postwar European masters and the importance of provenance research in driving auction excitement.