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The High Priest of High Concept

After a tragically long interval, Marcel Duchamp is getting a retrospective at MoMA that comprehends the full revolutionary impact of his conceptual work. And yes, it was worth the wait.

Marcel Duchamp
Duchamp’s revolutionary works were created 50 years before he died in 1968. But it wasn’t until after the 1973 retrospective of his work at MoMA that conceptual art came to the forefront of contemporary art. And so, another half-century later, MoMA is reintroducing Duchamp to a generation that already knows him—even if they don’t know that they know him. Photo: © 2026 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris/Estate of Marcel Duchamp
Marion Maneker
April 14, 2026

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I have been struggling for the right metaphor to explain the significance of MoMA’s new retrospective on the artistic career of Marcel Duchamp. As almost everyone knows, Duchamp is the guy who took a urinal, turned it on its side, signed it, and called it art. With that work and others—including dozens of other readymades—he inverted art from its focus on skill, technique, and visual impact to an emphasis on ideas and even acts. Before Duchamp, works of art were made by artists. Afterward, art was whatever an artist made.