Marcel Broodthaers 8
A portrait derived from a still of Wax Figures (Jeremy Bentham), the work repositions Marcel Broodthaers within a field where image, memory, and institutional critique converge. The blue monochrome introduces a subtle instability between photographic reference and painterly surface, generating a nocturnal, introspective atmosphere marked by a restrained erotic tension.
Integrated into The Paintings Section From Davis Museum Barcelona, the piece belongs to a series dedicated to artists who conceived the museum as an artwork. The square format and tonal reduction place it within the Blue Period, reinforcing the coherence of the group and its continuity within the formal language of the Davis Museum.
Original · Signed · Certificate
€610
Product Details
Davis Lisboa, Marcel Broodthaers 8, 2017. Oil on linen, 30 × 30 × 3.5 cm (11.8 × 11.8 × 1.38 in).
The work is based on a still from Wax Figures (Jeremy Bentham), in which Marcel Broodthaers addresses a wax figure of the philosopher, introducing the idea of “a new statement.” From this point, the image shifts into an autonomous pictorial field, becoming part of a series of portraits dedicated to artists who conceived the museum as an artwork.
The painting operates within a logic close to Gerhard Richter’s photo-paintings, where the translation of photographic imagery into oil produces a deliberate instability. The surface moves between clarity and dissolution, generating an ambiguity that unsettles both representation and its memory. The blue monochrome envelops the scene in a nocturnal atmosphere, intensifying its introspective quality while allowing a restrained erotic charge to emerge.
Integrated into The Paintings Section From Davis Museum Barcelona, the work forms part of a broader device in which painting and institution function as a single operative field. Davis Museum Barcelona—conceived as a readymade sculpture, digital archive, and non-profit collective project—provides the framework through which these images gain coherence and circulation.
The series brings together key figures such as Marcel Duchamp (Boîte-en-valise), Robert Filliou (Galerie légitime), and Broodthaers himself (Musée d’Art Moderne, Département des Aigles). The square format and chromatic restraint place the work within the Blue Period, where tonal reduction reinforces the visual coherence of the group and its continuity within the formal language of the Davis Museum.
Additional information
| Weight | 2 kg |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 30 × 30 × 3.5 cm |
