Marcel Broodthaers X

Davis Lisboa, Marcel Broodthaers X, 2016. Oil on linen, 40 × 40 × 3.5 cm (15.7 × 15.7 × 1.38 in).

Inspired by a self-portrait photograph in which the artist appears wearing a rubber eagle mask to embody Marcel Broodthaers, this painting reactivates a surrealist vocabulary in which human and animal forms converge. The image recalls the hybrid figures of Max Ernst—particularly The Robing of the Bride—while maintaining a concentrated focus on the singular presence of the portrayed figure.

Formally, the work draws on the language of Baroque portraiture, with the figure emerging from a dim, tenebrist ground. Light is used sparingly, shaping the image through contrast and atmosphere rather than description, and reinforcing a sense of theatrical suspension.

The square format reinforces the structural clarity of the composition while echoing the cubic geometry of Davis Museum Barcelona. Within this contained field, the painting balances symbolic charge and pictorial restraint, allowing the image to remain both direct and elusive.

Part of The Painting Section from Davis Museum Barcelona, the work belongs to the only section of the museum in which artworks are available for acquisition. It also extends a lineage shaped by Marcel Duchamp’s Boîte-en-valise, Robert Filliou’s Galerie légitime, and Marcel Broodthaers’ Musée d’Art Moderne, Département des Aigles, where the museum itself becomes an artistic medium.