Marcel Duchamp

"The creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative act."
- Marcel Duchamp

That's a brilliant observation.

I found this picture of Duchamp and a chess set he designed. Isn't it funny how geniuses often look unbearably smug?


Duchamp was a genius of the rare caliber who only needs to do something once to achieve something excellent and unique. I am sure he used at most a week's preparation before he made his seminal Nude Descending a Staircase no 2, which to my taste is at least as good as anything Picasso ever made.


It is interesting that "Nude..." was seemingly very controversial partly due to the title. Clearly nobody would have thought of a nude if it had been called "Figure..."

It is not the prettiest painting ever made, but it is more visually pleasant than most abstracts of the time, and it's a good study of lines, movement, and space. Much ahead of its time.