Duchamp, Marcel

Marcel Duchamp, in full Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp, (born July 28, 1887, Blainville, France—died October 2, 1968, Neuilly), French artist who broke down the boundaries between works of art and everyday objects. After the sensation caused by Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 (1912), he painted few other pictures. His irreverence for conventional aesthetic standards led him to devise his famous ready-mades and heralded an artistic revolution. Duchamp was friendly with the Dadaists, and in the 1930s he helped to organize Surrealist exhibitions. He became a U.S. citizen in 1955.