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)
The artist is a human being, not a god.
I have always tried to avoid the 'retinal' aspect of art.
The only thing that matters is the idea.
I don't believe in the 'aura' of art.
The art of the future will be invisible.
I am not interested in beauty.
The artist is a 'mediumistic being.'
I don't want to be a 'genius.'
I have never been able to make a painting that was not a joke.
A work of art is good if it's not bad.
I don't want to be an artist. I want to be a chess player.
I have drawn a mustache on Mona Lisa, but I have not destroyed her.
I have never been interested in painting as such, but in the ideas that painting could convey.
I am a 'respirateur.'
The only value of art is to be a conversation piece.
I don't want to prove anything. I just want to live.
I am a bachelor, and I have no children. So I have no reason to be interested in the future.
I don't believe in art for art's sake. I believe in art for life's sake.
I don't want to be a genius. I want to be a human being.
I have always been interested in the idea of the 'anti-art.'
Contemporaries of Marcel Duchamp
Other Visual Artss born within 50 years of Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968).