Marcel Duchamp The Fountain Analysis

Duchamp’s Fountain and The History of Dada: An Artistic Revolution

Dadaism is a movement that emerged in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1916 (Tzara 3). This art movement was a protest against the first World War and the cultural, political and social ideas of the time. They were convinced that the logic behind the bourgeois capitalist society had started the war (Richter). Dadaism paved the way for many art movements and revolutionized art. One of the most influential art pieces that emerged from this movement was “The Fountain” by Marcel Duchamp.

Switzerland, being a neutral country, became home to many European refugee artists. They all converged at a nightclub in Zurich called the Cabaret Voltaire, which then became a pivotal art space and

Any reproduction of an original is motivated by necessity. It is marvelous that we are the only species that creates gratuitous forms. To create is divine, to reproduce is human” (Ray 442).

It was rejected by many during its time due to it’s connection with bodily fluids and waste and people thought it was making a mockery of the art world. It was then dubbed the most influential art piece of the 20th century, and started an artistic revolution that “severed forever the traditional link between the artist’s labor and the merit of the work” (Hensher 2-5). The Fountain inspired many 20th century artists including Damien Hirst, an artist famous for his controversial pieces, Andy Warhol and is also said to have inspired Banksy, a very influential street artist and political activist (Perry 442).

The birth of many art movements of the 20th century became a by-product of the Dada Movement. “Dada is the groundwork to abstract art and sound poetry, a starting point for performance art, a prelude to postmodernism, an influence on pop art, a celebration of anti-art to be later embraced for anarchy-political uses in the 1960s and the movement that lay the foundation for Surrealism” (Lowenthal 1). The influence Dada had on the art world was revolutionary and changed the very logic behind