Marcel Broodthaers 18 (M.B.)

The Davis Museum, a museological project conceived by Davis Lisboa and officially recognized by the Government of Catalonia, is configured as a readymade sculpture and a collective, nonprofit art initiative. This contemporary mini-museum is organized into various sections, each exploring distinct artistic approaches and mediums.

Within this framework, «The Paintings Section from Davis Museum Barcelona» brings together a collection of portraits and still lifes dedicated to artists who revolutionized art history by creating their own museums, thereby challenging the boundaries of traditional institutions. Notable figures include Marcel Duchamp with his «Boîte-en-valise» (1935–1941), Robert Filliou with his «Galerie Légitime» (1962), and Marcel Broodthaers with his «Musée d’Art Moderne, Département des Aigles» (1968–1972).

This section features «Marcel Broodthaers 18 (M.B.)», an oil painting inspired conceptually by a still from Broodthaers’ film «Figures of Wax (Jeremy Bentham)» (1974), a short that reflects on the museum as a space of representation and power, using Bentham’s wax figure to highlight the artificiality of representation. Formally, the painting draws on Gerhard Richter’s photographic works, balancing painterly gestures with photographic precision to blur the lines between reality and interpretation.

This work employs oil on linen for its material richness and historical resonance, using exclusively Old Holland oils and Talens mediums, which lend a unique texture and chromatic depth to the surface. The square format of the painting echoes the cubic geometry of the Davis Museum, underscoring a desire to connect painting with the readymade sculpture and to establish a dialogue between traditional pictorial formats and conceptual practices that expand the boundaries of contemporary art.