The Hirshhorn Museum, which previously had only one work by Duchamp, now ranks near the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art as holding the most prominent public collections of his work.

Marcel Duchamp, “From or by Marcel Duchamp or Rrose Sélavy (The Box in a Valise)” (“De ou par Marcel Duchamp ou Rrose Sélavy [Boîte-en-valise]”) (1935–1941/1963)
Marcel Duchamp, “From or by Marcel Duchamp or Rrose Sélavy (The Box in a Valise)” (“De ou par Marcel Duchamp ou Rrose Sélavy [Boîte-en-valise]”) (1935–1941/1963) - Reproductions of 68 works by Marcel Duchamp in dark green imitation leather box, Series E. Promised Gift of Barbara and Aaron Levine, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.  © Cathy Carver © Association Marcel Duchamp / ADAGP, Paris / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 2019

Duchamp’s legacy as the father of conceptual art and the readymade is on display in Marcel Duchamp: The Barbara and Aaron Levine Collection at the Hirshhorn Museum, featuring more than 35 works by Duchamp, including his readymades, paintings, and experiments in optical art. The Hirshhorn, which previously had only one work by Duchamp, now ranks near the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art as holding the most prominent public collections of his work. The gift from the Levines also includes letters by Duchamp and portraits of him by Man Ray, Diane Arbus, and others.

Marcel Duchamp, “Pendu femelle” (“Female Hanged Body”) (1913), colored pencil, charcoal, black ink on paper.
Marcel Duchamp, “Pendu femelle” (“Female Hanged Body”) (1913), colored pencil, charcoal, black ink on paper. - Promised Gift of Barbara and Aaron Levine, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.  © Cathy Carver © Association Marcel Duchamp / ADAGP, Paris / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 2019

If Marcel Duchamp was still alive, he probably would laugh over the public scorn heaped on Maurizio Cattelan’s duct-taped banana at Art Basel Miami Beach.

If Duchamp’s “Fountain” — a urinal — can be art, then why not a wall-mounted banana titled “Comedian”?

“Anything is art if an artist says it is,” Duchamp proclaimed. But he likely would have scoffed at the banana’s $120,000 price tag because he believed art was so commercialized “it has become one of the most trivial activities of our epoch.”