Tu m', 1918
Oil on canvas, with bottle brush, three safety pins, and one bolt, 27 1/2 x 119 5/16 in. (69.8 x 303 cm)
Gift from the Estate of Katherine S. Dreier
1953.6.4
©2004 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris / Succession Marcel Duchamp
The art collector and educator Katherine Dreier commissioned Tu m' to be hung over a bookcase in her library—hence the unusual shape of the work. Executed in 1918, it is Duchamp's last painting on canvas and revisits highlights of his career. Ranging across the canvas from left to right are the cast shadows of a bicycle wheel, a corkscrew, and a hat rack. Providing counterpoint to these silhouettes are collaged elements and a pointing hand rendered illusionistically. The title lends a sarcastic tone to the work, for the words, perhaps short for the French tu m'emmerdes or tu m'ennuies (you bore me), seem to express his attitude toward painting as he was casting it aside.
For more information on the Société Anonyme Collection, please visit http://artgallery.yale.edu/socanon.
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