The fire pictures created between 1961 and 1962, which the art critic Pierre Restany called "the synthetic flowering of Yves Klein's cosmogony," are considered the works that sealed Yves Klein's 'apotheosis' as an artist (P. Restany, Yves Klein: Fire at the Heart of the Void, Putnam 2005, p. 1). The fire paintings are meant to make the invisible visible. The core of his artistic work is the search for the immaterial image that goes beyond tangible physicality and thus beyond reality. The element of fire appears to him as the perfect medium for this endeavor.

The origin of the fire pictures goes back to the exhibition "Yves Klein: Monochrome und Feuer" (Monochrome and Fire) at Museum Haus Lange in Krefeld in January and February 1961. This was the first and last museum retrospective in the artist's lifetime. Here Klein presented his Fire Paintings and Fire Fountains for the first time. The legendary Fire Wall, consisting of 50 Bunsen burner nozzles, was ignited in a spectacular action on the evening of the exhibition opening, as was a Fire Fountain. With the help of the Fire Wall and the Fire Columns, he created several Fire Pictures by holding paper or cardboard into the flames. After the exhibition, the artist began to expand his experiments with the element of fire. A remarkable collaboration between art and industry began, allowing him to take his creative vision to a new level. At the test center of the French gas company Gaz de France, Klein was able to refine his technique and gain greater control over the combustion process using huge burners and a kind of Swedish pressboard with a strong durability. Under the supervision of firefighters, Klein 'painted' his works with a flamethrower, finding another intangible source to serve as a new kind of brush.

Control over this destructive process allowed Klein to create captivating beautiful works that incorporate the emblematic and cosmological associations of fire. "Peinture d'eau et du feu" (F133)" is a remarkable example of how the destructive power of fire becomes a source of creative potential. The mystically shimmering matte surface appears in a deep amber hue, with two ethereal columns of smoke stretching across it. The pure Fire Paintings, like the one offered here, can best manifest the originality of his fire actions. They capture pure matter in a fleeting state of aggregation, ultimately making infinity tangible. After the Krefeld exhibition, which marked a peak in Klein's career, Klein created a total of more than 150 Fire Paintings. In addition to the monochrome paintings, the fire paintings are the central theme of his last creative phase. [SM]