Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2)
Marcel Duchamp, American (born France), 1887 - 1968
Geography:
Made in France, Europe
Date:
1912Medium:
Oil on canvasDimensions:
57 7/8 x 35 1/8 inches (147 x 89.2 cm) Framed: 59 3/4 x 36 3/4 x 2 inches (151.8 x 93.3 x 5.1 cm)Copyright:
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/Estate of Marcel DuchampCuratorial Department:
European Painting
1950-134-59Credit Line:
The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950
Made in France, Europe
Date:
1912Medium:
Oil on canvasDimensions:
57 7/8 x 35 1/8 inches (147 x 89.2 cm) Framed: 59 3/4 x 36 3/4 x 2 inches (151.8 x 93.3 x 5.1 cm)Copyright:
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/Estate of Marcel DuchampCuratorial Department:
European Painting
* Gallery 182, Modern and Contemporary Art, first floor (d’Harnoncourt Gallery)
Accession Number:1950-134-59Credit Line:
The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950

A replica of this work is featured in Inside Out, a series of outdoor exhibitions throughout the region.
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cubism [x] exciting [x] motion [x] nude descending staircase [x] provocative [x] rhythmic [x]On March 18, 1912, Marcel Duchamp received an unexpected visit from his two brothers, Jacques Villon and Raymond Duchamp-Villon, at his studio in Neuilly-sur-Seine. They informed their younger brother that the hanging committee of the Salon des Indépendants exhibition in Paris, which included themselves, Albert Gleizes, Jean Metzinger, and others, had rejected his Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2. These Cubist painters had refused to display the painting on the grounds that "A nude never descends the stairs--a nude reclines." Although the work was shown in the Salon de la Section d'Or in October 1912, Duchamp never forgave his brothers and former colleagues for censoring his work.
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