An abstract painting need in 50 years by no means look "abstract" any longer.
Marcel DuchampRead
The basis for my own work during the years just before coming to America in 1915 was a desire to break up forms - to 'decompose' them much along the lines the cubists had done. But I wanted to go further - much further - in fact, in quite another direction altogether.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Duchamp's quote expresses his intention to innovate and go beyond the existing artistic frameworks he encountered before moving to America.
In this quote, Marcel Duchamp reflects on his artistic evolution and the influence of Cubism on his work prior to his arrival in America. He emphasizes a desire not just to deconstruct existing forms, but to pursue new directions in art that break conventional boundaries, highlighting the transformative power of innovation in creative pursuits.
Themes
ArtInnovationCubismDeconstructionCreative
In practice
Example use cases
In an art critique discussing the evolution of modern art, this quote illustrates Duchamp's impact on contemporary practices.
More from Marcel Duchamp
All quotes →All this twaddle, the existence of God, atheism, determinism, liberation, societies, death, etc., are pieces of a chess game called language, and they are amusing only if one does not preoccupy oneself with 'winning or losing this game of chess.
Marcel DuchampRead
I am still a victim of chess. It has all the beauty of art - and much more. It cannot be commercialized. Chess is much purer than art in its social position.
Marcel DuchampRead
I never finished the 'Large Glass' because, after working on it for eight years, I probably got interested in something else; also, I was tired. It may be that, subconsciously, I never intended to finish it because the word 'finish' implies an acceptance of traditional methods and all the paraphernalia that accompany them.
Marcel DuchampRead
It's a product of two poles - there's the pole of the one who makes the work, and the pole of the one who looks at it. I give the latter as much importance as the one who makes it.
Marcel DuchampRead
I became a librarian at the Sainte-Genevieve Library in Paris. I made this gesture to rid myself of a certain milieu, a certain attitude, to have a clean conscience, but also to make a living. I was twenty-five. I had been told that one must make a living, and I believed it.
Marcel DuchampRead
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