Blue period at the Walker

An official dress code wasn't in play for the Walker After Hours party to celebrate the opening of the museum's new Yves Klein retrospective.

However, many partygoers chose to pay homage to the French artist's signature hue -- International Klein Blue (IKB), a deep, saturated blue.

Everyone took on a moody hue in the light shining around the party areas. The exhibit itself, "Yves Klein: With the Void, Full Powers" covers the artist's short but influential career in the mid-20th century. He died at age 34 of a heart attack.

Art history students from Minnesota State University, Mankato, including Margo Steck and Kristin Harsma, came to the Twin Cities for the opening.

"Yves Klein is a very interesting artist," said Steck. "He wasn't really understood by American critics in the art scene in his prime. It's really cool that the Walker is doing a retrospective of his work."

In person, the color itself resonated. "It's very vibrant, calm and it pulls you in," said Harsma. "Other colors have a connotation, but [IKB] is very abstract because it makes you think of the sky and ocean, which are very abstract in themselves."

Harsma was inspired to make the blue dress she wore to the party. "It's not quite the right blue, but it's close," she said.

Klein would have approved.

Sara Glassman • 612-673-7177