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Lucio Fontana was very interested in what young artists were doing. He acquired works by Yves Klein and Heinz Mack, for example, and befriended a number of fellow artists. He supported them in their search for exhibition opportunities and preferred to exhibit with them rather than with the famous colleagues of his generation.

He was admired, almost worshipped, by the younger artists. Like him, they sought not to depict space illusionistically, but to make it tangible and experiential through their work. Like him, they used new materials and techniques. Like him, they sought formal reduction and concentration.

Yves Klein was not interested in painting with colour in the traditional sense. He was much more interested in pure pigment, pigment as the origin and basis of art. Pure pigment represents pure sensation. The sponge object soaked in paint is typical of Klein Blue, or more precisely of I.K.B., International Klein Blue: The powdered blue that Klein developed and patented in 1956. He first used the blue in paintings, applying the colour with natural sponges, which he then stuck to the canvas soaked in paint. In the 1960 sculpture, the blue sponge alone becomes a work of art. In the same year, Klein and others founded the Nouveaux Réalistes, a group of artists who incorporated everyday objects into their art. Klein's sponge sculpture was bought by Lucio Fontana.