Imagine walking into an art gallery and seeing... a urinal. Not a fancy sculpture, not a painting. Just a plain, upside-down urinal with the name “R. Mutt” scribbled on it.
Welcome to Marcel Duchamp’s world.
In 1917, Duchamp entered this piece — called “Fountain” — into an art show. And yeah, people freaked out.
“Wait, this is art?” they said.
And Duchamp, cool as ever, basically replied:
“I picked it. I called it art. That’s enough.”
Boom.
In that one moment, the definition of art completely changed.
So what exactly is “readymade”?
Duchamp didn’t paint the urinal. He didn’t sculpt it. He didn’t even build it.
He just chose it, titled it, and gave it a new meaning by putting it in a gallery.
That’s what he called a readymade — an ordinary object presented as art.
It wasn’t about what it was. It was about how you think about it.
Other readymade works? A bicycle wheel mounted on a stool. A bottle drying rack.
Basic stuff, but Duchamp said: “Hey, when you look at this differently, it becomes something more.”
Art isn’t just about beauty — it’s about ideas
Duchamp was asking some big questions:
- Does art have to be handmade?
- Can choosing something be artistic?
- Is a good idea worth more than pretty paint?
He didn’t want to just make things. He wanted to mess with your brain.
And that’s exactly what he did.
Funny, clever, and always one step ahead
Duchamp didn’t take art too seriously — and that was kind of the point.
He once drew a mustache on a postcard of the Mona Lisa and titled it “L.H.O.O.Q.”
(We’ll let you Google that pun.)
And when he was in his seventies, he played a game of chess in a museum with a nude model as part of a performance.
Why? Because why not?
He believed art should challenge, surprise, even joke with its audience.
Not everything has to be heavy and deep.
His fingerprints are everywhere in modern art
Warhol’s soup cans? Jeff Koons’ balloon dogs? Damien Hirst’s preserved shark?
All owe a little something to Duchamp.
He gave future artists the green light to think beyond traditional materials and techniques — and to ask better, weirder questions.
Want to see his work?
You’ll find Duchamp’s pieces at:
- MoMA in New York
- Philadelphia Museum of Art (which has the original “Fountain”)
- Museums around the world that showcase bold, conceptual art.
So… is it art?
That’s the question Duchamp wanted us to ask.
He wasn’t trying to give answers. He was trying to start a conversation — one that’s still going strong over 100 years later.
Because if a urinal can be art…
what can’t be?