An abstract painting need in 50 years by no means look "abstract" any longer.
Marcel DuchampRead
Since the tubes of paint used by the artist are manufactured and ready made products we must conclude that all the paintings in the world are 'readymades aided' and also works of assemblage.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Duchamp suggests that all art, even when created, is influenced by pre-existing materials and ideas.
In this quote, Marcel Duchamp reflects on the nature of art, arguing that since artists utilize manufactured materials—like tubes of paint—every artwork is a product of external influences and prior inventions. This perspective emphasizes that art is not solely an individual creation but rather a synthesis of existing elements, promoting the idea of 'readymades' where ordinary objects can become art through the artist's choice and arrangement.
Themes
ArtAssemblageReadymadesArtistCreation
In practice
Example use cases
During an art discussion, one could quote Duchamp to emphasize the collaborative nature of creativity.
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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