Marcel Duchamp

"All this twaddle, the existence of God, atheism, determinism, liberation, societies, death, etc., are pieces of a chess game called language, and they are amusing only if one does not preoccupy onesel…"

"The spectator experiences the phenomenon of transmutation; through the change from inert matter into a work of art, an actual transubstantiation has taken place.. .All in all, the creative act is not …"

"..the thing was to choose one that you were not attracted by.. ..and that was difficult because anything becomes beautiful if you look at it long enough.. . completely eliminate the existence of taste…"

"In French there is an old expression, 'la patte', meaning the artist's touch, his personal style, his 'paw'. I wanted to get away from la patte and all that retinal painting."

"You were asking my opinion on your work of art, my dear Jean .. .Artists throughout the ages are like Monte Carlo gamblers and the blind lottery pulls some of them through and ruin others.. .I do not …"

"..because his applying paint to it was absolutely mechanical or, at least, as close to the printed thing as possible. It was not an act of painting; actually, the printing was just like printing excep…"

"Received your letter and, almost at the same time, the long text at which I was overjoyed. You no doubt know that you are the only person in the world to have put together the gestation of the glass i…"

"Let us consider two important factors, the two poles of the creation of art: the artist on one hand, and on the other the spectator who later becomes the posterity; to all appearances the artist acts …"