Marcel Duchamp 7 (Tonsure)

Davis Lisboa, Marcel Duchamp 7 (Tonsure), 2016. Oil on canvas, 40 × 40 × 3.5 cm (15.7 × 15.7 × 1.38 in).

The painting takes as its point of departure the image of Marcel Duchamp marked by the gesture of the tonsure, where identity is constructed through a deliberate act of displacement. This reference activates a figure shaped by multiple registers—between self-representation, alter ego, and symbolic withdrawal—remaining recognizable while undergoing a process of pictorial translation.

The surface is articulated through a loose yet precise brushwork of a light, controlled character, closer to an optical sensitivity than a material one. The image unfolds gradually, holding the figure in an unstable balance between definition and dissolution.

Integrated within The Paintings Section from Davis Museum, the work belongs to a body structured between portraits and still lifes that articulate a narrative within art history centered on artists who have created their own museums. In this context, the painting extends a line of inquiry linked to institutional critique through the medium itself.

The square format, the use of institutional blue, and the restrained chromatic range establish a direct correspondence with the formal identity of the Davis Museum. The work articulates a space in which image, history, and institution converge, affirming painting as a device of construction.