Meltdown (After Yves Klein: Black & White)

In her series Meltdown (After…), Sherrie Levine explores the simplification of form by using a software that calculates the average colour of emblematic works of art by European modernist artists. She purges them of information and reference points to return to an essential manifestation: the immediacy of the material. In these two black and white panels, the artist audaciously follows in the tradition of Yves Klein.

A tireless explorer of the notions of authenticity and repetition, Levine has defied established dogmas with her series of appropriations, which challenge the essence of art and explore her own identity as a woman artist.

By inserting her work within an artistic canon traditionally dominated by men, Levine questions the representation of women in art history. Through subtle shifts, the viewer is invited to reflect on the connections between the images and their contexts, and thus discover the gaps and biases in our historical perception of art.

The Pinault Collection showed this work for the first at the Icones exhibition at Punta della Dogana in Venice in 2023