Marcel Duchamp, AKA the 20th Century Version of an Internet Troll

Marcel Duchamp is potentially the most famous Dada artist of all time. Duchamp prompted people to ask “What is art?”. Many people use his work as an example for what art is not, which totally makes him the 20th century precursor to the internet trolls of today.

Left: The Fountain, Marcel Duchamp, 1917. Center: Bicycle Wheel, Marcel Duchamp, 1913. Right: L.H.O.O.Q., Marcel Duchamp, 1919.

Duchamp is best known for his “ready-mades,” for which he just displayed ordinary found objects as art. His 1917 work The Fountain was literally just a urinal. Another work of his, Bicycle Wheel, combines a bicycle wheel and a stool in a way that makes both objects completely useless.

In L.H.O.O.Q, Duchamp did what the internet does best: publicly making fun of famous people. He not only added ridiculous facial hair to this replica of the Mona Lisa, but also wrote the letters L.H.O.O.Q. below it. When spoken out loud, these letters sound like “elle a chaud au cul,” which literally translates to “she has a hot ass.” We can’t see Mona Lisa’s ass in the painting, but TBH i get it.

Left: Fresh Widow, Rrose Selavy (Marcel Duchamp), 1920.

Duchamp also attributed many of his works to his female alter ego, Rrose Selavy (The double “Rr”s look like a typo, but they were super intentional and on a whole other level of troll behavior). What did he use this alter ego for, you ask? A very important reason: an excuse to make terrible puns.

This work that was credited to Rrose Selavy is called “Fresh Widow,” which is a joke because it’s a sculpture of French windows. Ha-ha, get it?????????

Similar to the buzz around artists’ lives today, many rumors surrounded Duchamp. He was once rumored to have quit art completely so that he could play chess. For a living. Deadass.

Luckily—just like Justin Bieber’s triumphant return in 2015 with “What Do You Mean?”—Duchamp returned to the art world with his final work, "Given: 1. The Waterfall, 2. The Illuminating Gas.”

Marcel Duchamp is definitely a controversial name in art, but he left quite legacy in the art world and in pop culture. Although his work is strange and jarring, his subversion of expectations and use of humor is beloved today when used on the internet and in meme-culture. And in the spirit of memes: thanks for coming to my ted talk.