It is said that artists are the ones to decide which of their peers and predecessors go down in history. Most memorable are the works that influence others and start arguments or conversations, with others replying either in work or words. It is hard, then, to think of an artist more influential today than Marcel Duchamp, who lead the charge in breaking art out of the confines of sculpture and painting. Even artists who don’t give him much thought directly find themselves contending with his ideas, which have infiltrated the water supply.
A retrospective opening this weekend at the Museum of Modern Art in New York offers a deeper dive into his rich and varied body of work. We asked five artists to reflect on his legacy and talk about how they transformed his ideas into something truly new. A range of perspectives address Duchamp the painter, Duchamp the trickster, Duchamp the readymade artist, Duchamp the celebrity, and Duchamp the chauvinist—and, perhaps most of all, Duchamp the artist who always kept mixing it up, obsessed with motion and refusing the easy legibility of a lifelong style.
The MoMA show, on view through August 22, is an unmissable chance to see what Duchamp’s ideas were. Below, find out what they have become.
