Marcel Duchamp
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 consider myself a 'respirateur.'
I don't think that art is a religion.
The readymade is a way of denying the possibility of defining art.
I was interested in putting painting at the service of the mind.
I am a professional 'non-artist.'
The word 'art' is very dangerous.
I have approached art with indifference.
To be a painter, you have to be a little bit stupid.
I believe in the artist's right to be lazy.
The 'ism' is a disease.
I don't know if I'm an artist or not. I'm just a man.
I don't believe in the word 'progress' in art.
The public is always right.
I am a chess player.
I have never made a mistake in my life. I have only made experiments.
I am not an artist, I am an anartist.
The only value of art is its rarity.
I don't want to be original. I want to be different.
The art of the future will be a science.
I don't believe in the 'masterpiece.'
Contemporaries of Marcel Duchamp
Other Visual Artss born within 50 years of Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968).