Two Nudes
Marcel Duchamp
American, born France. 1887–1968
1910
An oil on canvas study of two nude figures in which Duchamp uses thick, tactile brushwork and flattened color to test the tension between volume and outline.
The rough impasto flesh—blocks of pinks and whites edged with dark strokes—pushes forward against a vivid green ground, so the simplified bodies feel both weighty and restlessly sketched into space.
Painted in 1910, this early work shows Duchamp engaging Post‑Impressionist and Fauvist experiments with form and color, a painterly episode that precedes his later turn toward radically conceptual art.
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
38 7/8 x 31 7/8" (98.9 x 81.8 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Mary Sisler Bequest
Accession
678.1990
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
