Dalí/Duchamp

Eroticism, science and humor collide in the work of these two close friends

Dalí/Duchamp takes a detailed look at the little-explored relationship between two of the 20th century’s most famous artists. The two might seem like polar opposites at first glance―Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968), the father of conceptual art who rejected painting in 1918, appears to have little in common with the showmanlike Salvador Dalí (1904–89), the exceptional Surrealist painter of fantastical landscapes. But the two men were united by a unique combination of humor and skepticism that led both to challenge conventional views of art and life in their own respective ways.

Beyond their shared thematic concerns, the artists knew and respected each other. After meeting in the 1930s through mutual contacts within the Surrealist group, Duchamp and Dalí maintained a firm friendship over the following decades, spending time together in Paris, New York and Catalonia, where Duchamp purchased a summer house in Cadaqués, close to Dalí’s home in Port Lligat.

Throughout this volume, expert contributors explore themes common to both artists, chief among them eroticism and identity, and both men’s engagement with science, optics, religion and myth. Each section of the book is sumptuously illustrated with key pieces from both artists’ bodies of work and features previously unpublished photographs, letters and ephemera that testify to the enduring warmth of their friendship. Dalí/Duchamp offers a fresh understanding of the work of two seminal artists of the 20th century.