Marcel Duchamp — MoMA, The Museum of Modern Art, New York City — Exhibition — Slash Paris

In 10 days: April 12 → August 22, 2026

Bringing together nearly 300 works, this exhibition is the first major retrospective of Marcel Duchamp in the United States since 1973. Over the past fifty years, scholarship on his work—both influential and enigmatic—has expanded considerably, generating a wide range of interpretations as well as misconceptions. By spanning his entire production from 1900 to 1968, the exhibition offers a comprehensive view of his practice, highlighting the full diversity of his artistic experimentation.

Throughout his life, Duchamp continually surprised audiences with unexpected approaches. With Boîte-en-valise, his “portable museum,” he condensed his oeuvre into miniature reproductions. Earlier, he had already challenged traditional conventions by freeing painting from its usual supports with The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even. Likewise, with *Fountain*—a simple urinal transformed into an artwork through an act of recontextualization—he radically redefined ideas of authorship and creation. Even before that, Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 had already caused controversy when it was presented at the Armory Show in 1913, particularly due to its fragmented depiction of movement.

Although he resisted being confined to any single movement, Duchamp nonetheless engaged with and influenced major artistic currents, from Cubism to Surrealism to Pop Art. His practice was grounded in constant reinvention and a deliberate refusal of consistency, embracing contradiction as a creative principle.

In this light, the question “Why is this art?” becomes especially meaningful. To address it, one inevitably returns to Duchamp, whose work fundamentally transformed the very definition of art and opened up a new realm of creative freedom—one whose impact continues to resonate today.