Marcel Duchamp

Visual Arts French-American 1887 – 1968 321 quotes

Father of conceptual art

Most quoted

"Art is the only form of activity in which man as man shows himself to be a true individual. Only in art is he capable of going beyond the animal state, because art is an outlet toward regions which are not ruled by time and space."

— from Session on the Creative Act, 1957

"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."

— from The Creative Act, 1957

"What I have in mind is that art may be bad, good or indifferent, but whatever adjective is used, we must call it art, and bad art is still art in the same way that a bad emotion is still an emotion."

— from Speech, 1957

All quotes by Marcel Duchamp (321)

I don't want to be a leader. I want to be a follower.

Interview

I have never been interested in the aesthetic side of art, but in the intellectual side.

Interview

I don't want to be a master. I want to be a student.

Interview

I have always been interested in the idea of the 'non-art.'

Interview

I don't want to be a hero. I want to be a villain.

Interview

I have always been interested in the idea of the 'anti-masterpiece.'

Interview

I don't want to be a saint. I want to be a sinner.

Interview

I have always been interested in the idea of the 'anti-art object.'

Interview

I don't want to be a god. I want to be a man.

Interview

I have always been interested in the idea of the 'anti-work of art.'

Interview

I don't want to be a king. I want to be a jester.

Interview

I have always been interested in the idea of the 'anti-aesthetic.'

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I don't want to be a judge. I want to be a lawyer.

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I have always been interested in the idea of the 'anti-tradition.'

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I don't want to be a doctor. I want to be a patient.

Interview

I have always been interested in the idea of the 'anti-establishment.'

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I don't want to be a teacher. I want to be a student.

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I have always been interested in the idea of the 'anti-system.'

Interview

I don't want to be a politician. I want to be a philosopher.

Interview

I have always been interested in the idea of the 'anti-form.'

Interview

Contemporaries of Marcel Duchamp

Other Visual Artss born within 50 years of Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968).

1840–1917 · French

Georgia O'Keeffe

1887–1986 · American

Wassily Kandinsky

1866–1944 · Russian

1840–1926 · French

1869–1954 · French

1928–1987 · American