Marcel Duchamp 19

From a conceptual standpoint, this painting takes as its point of departure a photograph by Man Ray titled «Marcel Duchamp on his Deathbed». On October 1st, 1968, Duchamp died suddenly and quietly of a heart attack at the age of 81. He passed away at his home in Neuilly-sur-Seine, surrounded by ordinary bathroom objects. Upon his death, his wife Teeny contacted Man Ray, who arrived with his photographic equipment intending to capture Duchamp’s final image—an image now lost to history.

Duchamp’s body was buried in the family cemetery in Rouen, beneath an epitaph that encapsulates his wry, philosophical stance: “D’ailleurs, c’est toujours les autres qui meurent” (“Besides, it’s always the others who die”)—a phrase he had carried in his coat pocket. Ironically, his final day had been marked by ease and lightness: visits to bookstores and friends, followed by a casual dinner with Man Ray and Robert Lebel, the latter being instrumental in the dissemination of Duchamp’s conceptual legacy.

Throughout the 1960s, Duchamp was the subject of major retrospectives that cemented his influence on contemporary art. His collaborations with Man Ray—particularly in the field of photography—form a significant part of his visual and conceptual archive. Faced with this painting, Marcel Duchamp 19, we are invited to consider: is it a historical painting or a work of art in its own right? In true Duchampian fashion, perhaps the work resides precisely in the unresolved tension between both.