Marcel Duchamp began his career as a painter of conventional portraits and nudes. By 1912, however, he set out to prove the end of \u201cretinal art\u201d\u2014pictures created to delight the eye\u2014in order to \u201cput painting once again at the service of the mind.\u201d His answer was the \u201creadymade,\u201d an ordinary object transformed into a work of art by virtue of the artist selecting it. Taken out of context, repositioned, and signed by the artist, the readymade upended tradition and artistic convention by revolutionizing the way we think about what an artwork is, how it is produced, and the ways in which it is exhibited.<\/p>\n
In 1914 Duchamp purchased this mass-produced bottle rack at a department store. He felt free to acquire new versions for exhibitions and display after his sister accidentally discarded the \u201coriginal.\u201d He selected the present version for the 1959 exhibition Art and the Found Object in New York<\/em>. Artist Robert Rauschenberg acquired Bottle Rack<\/em> and asked Duchamp to sign it. He obliged, writing in French, \u201cImpossible for me to recall the original phrase M.D. \/ Marcel Duchamp \/1960.\u201d<\/p>\n","short_description":"Although Marcel Duchamp began his career as a painter, he is best known for his attempts to prove the end of \u201cretinal art,\u201d or artworks created to please the eye. His answer was the \u201creadymade,\u201d an ordinary object transformed into an artwork simply by means of its selection and designation as such by an artist. Bottle Rack<\/em> is the earliest work of this type.","dimensions":"59.1 \u00d7 36.2 cm (23 1\/4 \u00d7 14 1\/4 in.)","dimensions_detail":[{"depth":null,"width":36,"height":59,"diameter":null,"clarification":null}],"medium_display":"Galvanized iron","inscriptions":"Inscribed on inner side of bottom ring: \u201cImpossible de me rappeler la phrase originale M.D.\/ Marcel Duchamp\/1960\u201d","credit_line":"Through prior gifts of Mary and Leigh Block, Mr. and Mrs. Maurice E. Culberg, and Mr. and Mrs. James W. Alsdorf; Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection Fund; through prior gift of Mary and Earle Ludgin Collection; Sheila Anne Morgenstern in memory of Dorothy O. Morgenstern and William V. Morgenstern; through prior bequests of Joseph Winterbotham and Mima de Manziarly Porter; Ada Turnbull Hertle and Modern Discretionary funds","catalogue_display":null,"publication_history":"William S. Seitz, ed., The Art of Assemblage, exh. cat. (New York: Museum of Modern Art and Doubleday, 1961), 46, 47 (ill.), 158, cat. 75, as Bottle Dryer, 1960. \n\nPasadena, Pasadena Art Museum, Marcel Duchamp: A Retrospective Exhibition, Oct. 8\u2013Nov. 3, 1963, n.p., cat. no. 54 (not ill.). \n\nFlorida International University Art Museum, The Marcel Duchamp Exhibition, exh. cat. (Miami: Florida International University Press, 1985), n.p., cat. 17 (ill.), as Bottle Dryer. \n\nAlfred M. Fischer and Dieter Daniels, eds., \u00dcbrigens sterben immer die anderen: Marcel Duchamp und die Avantgarde seit 1950, exh. cat. (Cologne: Museum Ludwig, 1988), 74, 75, 78 (ill.), 317, no cat. no., as Flaschentrockner, 1960, New York.\n\nArturo Schwarz, The Complete Works of Marcel Duchamp, vol. 2, 3rd rev. ed. (New York: Delano Greenidge Editions, 1997), 615, cat. 306C (ill., detail). \n\nMuseum Jean Tinguely Basel, Marcel Duchamp, exh. cat. (Basel: Museum Jean Tinguely and Hatje Cantz, 2002), 29 (ill.), 72-73 (color ill.), cat. 38, 210, as Porte-Bouteilles (Bottle Dryer [Bottlerack]), 1960.\n\nFrancis Naumann and Thomas Girst, eds., Aftershock: The Legacy of the Readymade in Post-War and Contemporary American Art, exh. cat. (New York: Dickinson Roundell, Inc., 2003), 8, fig. 1 (ill.), as Bottle Rack, 1914\/1960.\n\nSusan Davidson and David White, eds., Rauschenberg, exh. cat. (Ferrara: Ferrara Arte, 2004), 62, fig. 31 (color ill.), 63, as Scolabottiglie, 1961, quarta versione. \n\nDorothy Kosinski, ed., Dialogues: Duchamp, Cornell, Johns, Rauschenberg, exh. cat. (Dallas: Dallas Museum of Art and New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005), 12 (color ill.), cat. 7, 102, as Bottle Dryer (Bottlerack), c. 1960.\n\nGhislaine Wood, ed., Surreal Things: Surrealism and Design, exh. cat. (London: Victoria and Albert Museum; New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2007), 35, cat. 2.15 (color ill.), as Porte-Bouteilles (Bottle Rack), 1914\/1960. \n\nCarlos Basualdo and Erica F. Battle, eds., Dancing Around the Bride: Cage, Cunningham, Johns, Rauschenberg, and Duchamp, exh. cat. (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art; New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2012), 493 (color ill.), no cat. no., as Bottlerack, 1960 (replica of 1914 original).\n\nRobert Storr, ed., Selections from the Private Collection of Robert Rauschenberg, exh. cat. (New York: Gagosian Gallery, 2012), endpapers (ill.), 21, fig. 8 (color ill., detail), 66, 67 (color ill.), no cat. no, 363 (ill.), as Porte-bouteilles (Bottle Rack), 1960 (after 1914 original).\n\nFrancis M. Naumann, ed., The Duchamp Family of Artists, exh. cat (Naples: Artis-Naples, The Baker Museum, 2014), 17, 21, fig. 28 (color ill.), as Bottle Rack, 1914\/1960.\n\nCalvin Tomkins and Adina Kamien-Kazhdan, eds., Marcel Duchamp, exh. cat. (New York: Gagosian Gallery, 2014), 22, 23 (color ill.), no cat. no., as Porte-Bouteille (Bottle Dryer [Bottle Rack]), 1960 (after 1914 lost original). \n\nValerie J. Fletcher, ed., Marvelous Objects: Surrealist Sculptures from Paris to New York, exh. cat. (Washington, D.C.: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden; Munich: Delmonico Books\/Prestel, 2015), 17, cat. 2 (color ill.), 185, as Bottle Rack, 1914.\n\nC\u00e9cile Debray and Paul B. Franklin, eds., Marcel Duchamp: Porte-bouteilles, exh. cat. (Paris: Galerie Thaddeus Ropac, 2016), 30, 32-33 (ill., detail), 35, 55-56, 62-63 (ill.), 64 (ill.), 67 (ill.), 68 (ill.), 70-71 (ill.), 72 (ill.), 73 (ill.), 88 (ill.), 93 (ill.), 97 (ill.), 100, no cat. no., as Bottle Rack\/Porte-bouteilles, late 1958-early 1959. \n\nLeah Dickerman and Achim Borchardt-Hume, eds., Robert Rauschenberg, exh. cat. (New York: Museum of Modern Art; London: Tate Publishing, 2016), 289, 392-393 (ill.), 404.\n\nSteve Johnson, \u201cThe Art Institute wins global competition for modern masterpiece \u2013 a multimillion dollar bottle rack,\u201d Chicago Tribune (Feb. 13, 2018), (color ill.).\n\nAndrew Russeth, \u201cRobert Rauschenberg\u2019s Rare Duchamp Readymade Goes to Art Institute of Chicago,\u201d ARTNews (Feb.13, 2018), (color ill.). \n\nErmanno Migliorini, Lo scolabottiglie di Duchamp (Milan:\u00a0Johan & Levi Editore, 2023), cover (color ill.), 9-13.\n\nDon Quintance, Duchamp in California: Walter Hopps Curates a Retrospective (Houston: The Menil Collection and Cologne: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz K\u00f6nig, 2025), 112, fig. 5.15 (color ill.), 113, 127, fig. 5.36 (ill.), 130, 216, 218, fig. 8.38 (color ill.), 220, fig. 8.43 (color ill.), 358.","exhibition_history":"New York, American Federation of the Arts, Art and the Found Object, Jan. 12\u2013Feb. 6, 1959, no. cat.; Williamstown, Williams College, Feb. 22\u2013Mar. 15; Bloomfield Hills, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Apr. 8\u201328; Arts Club of Chicago, May 22\u2013June 17; University of Notre Dame, July 1\u201321; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Sept. 18\u2013Oct. 18; Poughkeepsie, Vassar College, Nov. 4\u201324; Waltham, MA., Brandeis University, Goldfarb Library, Dec. 15, 1959\u2013Jan. 15, 1960.\n\nNew York, Museum of Modern Art, The Art of Assemblage, Oct. 4\u2013Nov. 12, 1961, cat. 75; Dallas Museum of Contemporary Arts, Jan. 9\u2013Feb. 11, 1962; San Francisco Museum of Art, Mar. 5\u2013Apr. 15, 1962.\n\nPasadena, Pasadena Art Museum, Marcel Duchamp: A Retrospective Exhibition, Oct. 8\u2013Nov. 3, 1963, cat. 54.\n\nMiami, Art Museum, Florida International University, The Marcel Duchamp Exhibition, Sept. 20\u2013Oct. 16, 1985, cat. 17. \n\nHouston, Menil Collection, Surrealism: Selections from the Menil Collection, June 7, 1987\u2013Oct. 24, 1988, no cat.\n\nCologne, Ludwig Museum, Besides, It\u2019s Always Other People Who Die: Marcel Duchamp and the Avant\u2013Garde Since 1950, Jan. 15\u2013Mar. 6, 1988, no cat. no.\n\nBasel, Museum Jean Tinguely, Marcel Duchamp, Mar. 20\u2013June 30, 2002, cat. 38.\n\nDallas, Dallas Museum of Art, Dialogues: Duchamp, Cornell, Johns, Rauschenberg, Sept. 4\u20132005\u2013Jan. 8, 2006, cat. 7.\n\nLondon, Victoria and Albert Museum, Surreal Things: Surrealism and Design, Mar. 29\u2013Jul. 22, 2007, cat 2.15; Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Sept. 29, 2007\u2013Jan. 6, 2008; Bilbao, Guggenheim Museum, Mar. 3\u2013Sept. 7, 2008; Toronto, Art Gallery of Ontario, May 9\u2013Aug. Aug 30, 2009.\n\nMadrid, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, New Realisms: 1957\u20131962: Object Strategies between Readymade and Spectacle, Jun. 16\u2013Oct. 4, 2010, no cat. no.\n\nNew York, Gagosian Gallery, The Private Collection of Robert Rauschenberg, Nov. 3\u2013Dec. 23, 2011, no cat. no.\n\nPhiladelphia Museum of Art, Dancing around the Bride: Cage, Cunningham, Johns, Rauschenberg and Duchamp, Oct. 30, 2012\u2013Jan. 21, 2013; London, Barbican Art Gallery, Feb. 14\u2013June 9, 2013, no cat. no.\n\nNew York, Gagosian Gallery, Marcel Duchamp, June 26\u2013Aug. 29, 2014, no cat. no.\n\nWashington D.C., Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Marvelous Objects: Surrealist Sculpture from Paris to New York, Oct. 29, 2015\u2013Feb. 15, 2016, cat. 2. \n\nParis, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Marcel Duchamp: Porte-bouteilles, Oct. 19, 2016\u2013Jan. 14, 2017, no cat. no.\n\nNew York, The Museum of Modern Art, Robert Rauschenberg: Among Friends, May 21\u2013Sept. 17, 2017, no cat. no.","provenance_text":"The artist; sold to Robert Rauschenberg through the American Federation of the Arts, c. 1959-60; bequeathed to the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation; sold through Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2017.","edition":null,"publishing_verification_level":"Web Cataloged","internal_department_id":246,"fiscal_year":2018,"fiscal_year_deaccession":null,"is_public_domain":false,"is_zoomable":false,"max_zoom_window_size":843,"copyright_notice":null,"has_multimedia_resources":false,"has_educational_resources":false,"has_advanced_imaging":false,"colorfulness":4.6227,"color":{"h":42,"l":48,"s":6,"percentage":0.00227879542873637,"population":18},"latitude":41.880648849799,"longitude":-87.621543389866,"latlon":"41.880648849799,-87.621543389866","is_on_view":false,"on_loan_display":" On loan<\/p>","gallery_title":null,"gallery_id":null,"nomisma_id":null,"artwork_type_title":"Sculpture","artwork_type_id":3,"department_title":"Modern Art","department_id":"PC-11","artist_id":34316,"artist_title":"Marcel Duchamp","alt_artist_ids":[],"artist_ids":[34316],"artist_titles":["Marcel Duchamp"],"category_ids":["PC-831","PC-11"],"category_titles":["Essentials","Modern Art"],"term_titles":["metalworking","ready-mades","iron (metal)","Surrealism Highlights","Modern Art Highlights","rack","found objects","galvanized iron","sculpture","Joseph Winterbotham Collection"],"style_id":null,"style_title":null,"alt_style_ids":[],"style_ids":[],"style_titles":[],"classification_id":"TM-13013","classification_title":"ready-mades","alt_classification_ids":["TM-14412","TM-14404","TM-1383","TM-13012","TM-13"],"classification_ids":["TM-13013","TM-14412","TM-14404","TM-1383","TM-13012","TM-13"],"classification_titles":["ready-mades","Surrealism Highlights","Modern Art Highlights","rack","found objects","sculpture"],"subject_id":null,"alt_subject_ids":["TM-14413"],"subject_ids":["TM-14413"],"subject_titles":["Joseph Winterbotham Collection"],"material_id":"TM-2526","alt_material_ids":["TM-13014"],"material_ids":["TM-2526","TM-13014"],"material_titles":["iron (metal)","galvanized iron"],"technique_id":"TM-4152","alt_technique_ids":[],"technique_ids":["TM-4152"],"technique_titles":["metalworking"],"theme_titles":["Essentials"],"image_id":"aaf32d95-6c4f-9024-b536-f22a801f2f51","alt_image_ids":[],"document_ids":[],"sound_ids":[],"video_ids":[],"text_ids":[],"section_ids":[],"section_titles":[],"site_ids":[],"suggest_autocomplete_boosted":"Bottle Rack (Porte-Bouteilles)","suggest_autocomplete_all":[{"input":["2017.422"],"contexts":{"groupings":["accession"]}},{"input":["Bottle Rack (Porte-Bouteilles)"],"weight":885,"contexts":{"groupings":["title"]}}],"source_updated_at":"2026-09-24T00:30:01-05:00","updated_at":"2026-09-25T10:49:04-05:00","timestamp":"2026-09-26T16:15:11-05:00"},"info":{"license_text":"The `description` field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. 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