Book excerpt: French painter Yves Klein (1928?1962) stands as one of the most exciting artists of the 20th century. A founding member of the New Realism movement, he was also a pioneer in performance art and installations, and a forerunner of body art, land art, and conceptual art. During his meteoric eight-year career, Klein expressed his vision through a wide range of media, including pure color (notably a deep, bright blue now known as Yves Klein Blue), architecture, sculpture, literature, and music. This book looks afresh at Klein's works, and especially those that involve fire. Klein used fire to represent the mysterious and intangible elements of the world: He believed that an artist's transfiguration of reality could change a viewer's personal values, and his aim was to usher in an age of happy and fulfilled humankind. Here, images of his spectacular mur de feu or ?wall of fire,” along with his monochromes, monogolds, drawings, letters, and articles, as well as pictures of Klein producing his works, are testament to the artist's belief in the spiritual power of art. This magnificent volume includes a fascinating DVD of archival footage of Klein creating art with fire. The 12-minute DVD shows Klein creating the Mur de feu (Wall of Fire) and the Fontaine de feu (Fountain of Fire) for an exhibition in Germany in 1961, filmed by Yvan Butler, and the Peintures de feu (Fire Paintings) in France in 1962, filmed by Albert Weill. Newly composed music by Daniel Humair accompanies the films.