Buzz
Marcel Duchamp’s 1912 artwork, Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2, caused an unprecedented stir in the art world upon its debut. Despite enduring widespread rejection, ridicule, and even criticism from a U.S. president, this daring work eventually achieved the status of a timeless masterpiece.
1. Duchamp's Cubist peers dismissed the Cubist-inspired work.
Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 transforms the human figure into a mechanical, monochromatic form, aligning with Cubist principles. Over the past century, it has been featured in numerous Cubist exhibitions. Yet, Duchamp’s incorporation of 20 static positions to convey motion and dynamic energy led Cubists to argue that the piece leaned more toward Futurism than their own groundbreaking movement.
2. Duchamp's brothers attempted to suppress the artwork.
The French painter aimed to showcase his work at the Salon des Indépendants' spring exhibition of Cubist art. However, the provocative title Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 was met with disapproval by the hanging committee, which included Duchamp's siblings, Jacques Villon and Raymond Duchamp-Villon. They visited his Neuilly-sur-Seine studio, urging him to either withdraw the piece or alter its title. The committee echoed their sentiments, arguing, "A nude never descends the stairs—a nude reclines."
3. Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 caused a family feud.
Despite his brothers' objections, Marcel Duchamp firmly declined to modify his work. He later recalled, "I didn’t respond to my brothers. Instead, I went straight to the exhibition, retrieved my painting, and took it home in a taxi. That moment marked a pivotal shift in my life. I realized I no longer had much interest in being part of groups."
However, the Salon d’Or, a collective of Cubist artists that included Duchamp’s brothers, eventually accepted the unaltered Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 for their autumn exhibition. Despite this, the relationship between the Duchamp brothers remained irreparably damaged.
4. The original title remains visible on the canvas.
In the lower left corner, you can see "NU DESCENDANT UN ESCALIER," written in uppercase letters. The title Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 was assigned later.
5. Timelapse photography served as a key influence.
Photographers were exploring human and animal movement through this technique, and art historians link Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 directly to the photo series Woman Walking Downstairs, featured in Eadweard Muybridge's 1887 publication Animal Locomotion.
6. The painting received harsh criticism during its American debut.
In 1913, the International Exhibition of Modern Art, now known as The Armory Show, took place at the National Guard 69th Regiment Armory in New York. This large-scale exhibition featured Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 in its U.S. premiere. Critics and audiences, more familiar with realistic and naturalistic art, were quick to ridicule it as emblematic of the absurdity of modern European art.
The New York Times humorously dubbed it "Explosion in a Shingle Factory." A well-known cartoonist satirized it with "The Rude Descending the Staircase (Rush Hour at the Subway)." American Art News even turned it into a contest, offering a $10 prize to anyone who could identify the nude in Duchamp's unconventional piece, calling it “the conundrum of the season.”
7. Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 challenged the conventions of nude art.
Duchamp's brothers weren’t alone in their disapproval of his unconventional approach to the nude tradition. Reflecting on the Armory Show's legacy during its 100th anniversary, curator Marilyn Kushner noted, "Female nudes in art, whether in sculpture or painting, were typically depicted in a classical manner, embodying the ideal of perfect, timeless beauty." The fragmented, dynamic portrayal of a nude woman in Duchamp’s work was profoundly unsettling to the 1913 audiences who came to marvel at the exhibition.
8. Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 overshadowed the works of Cézanne and Gauguin.
Artist Walt Kuhn had anticipated that the Armory Show would challenge Americans' views on art by showcasing groundbreaking European works. However, no one expected that out of the 1400 pieces displayed, Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 would become the most controversial. The scandal surrounding the painting drew 87,000 visitors to the exhibition.
9. Teddy Roosevelt was unimpressed.
In the March 29, 1913 issue of Outlook, the former president published an article titled “A Layman’s View of an Art Exhibition,” where he criticized Cubists as the "lunatic fringe" of modern art movements. He also ridiculed Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2, mistakenly referring to it as 'A naked man going down stairs.'
"Take the picture which for some reason is called 'A naked man going down stairs.' There is in my bathroom a really good Navajo rug which, on any proper interpretation of the Cubist theory, is a far more satisfactory and decorative picture. Now if, for some inscrutable reason, it suited somebody to call this rug a picture of, say, 'A well-dressed man going up a ladder,' the name would fit the facts just about as well as in the case of the Cubist picture of the 'Naked man going down stairs.' From the standpoint of terminology, each name would have whatever merit inheres in a rather cheap straining after effect; and from the standpoint of decorative value, of sincerity, and of artistic merit, the Navajo rug is infinitely ahead of the picture."
10. The controversy delighted Duchamp.
Rather than being discouraged by the criticism, Duchamp was thrilled by the American reaction to his work. It motivated him to relocate to New York shortly after the exhibition. Reflecting on the Armory Show five decades later, Duchamp nostalgically remarked, "Today, there’s an audience for [Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2] that didn’t exist back then. Cubism was thrust upon the public to provoke rejection ... Now, new movements are almost embraced before they even begin. The element of shock has vanished."
11. Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 didn’t bring Duchamp fame.
While Americans were baffled by the unconventional imagery and bold title, they paid little attention to its creator. As Duchamp later recalled in an interview, "The painting became famous, but I remained unknown."
His obscurity was highlighted years later when Duchamp visited the Cleveland Museum of Art to view Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2. To his surprise, the caption card stated he had died three years earlier.
12. Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 was sold for an astonishingly low price.
Records indicate the artwork was purchased for $324, with Duchamp receiving $240. Adjusted for inflation, this amounts to roughly $7800 today, with the artist’s share being $5777. Despite this, it was a bargain for San Francisco dealer Frederic C. Torrey, whose eagerness to own the most debated piece from the Armory Show led him to acquire it.
Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 was showcased prominently in Torrey’s Berkeley, California home for six years. Eventually, he contacted art critic Walter Pach, inquiring, “Considering the current cost of gasoline, do you think anyone would pay a thousand dollars for the Nu Descendant?" He found a buyer in American art collector and Duchamp’s friend, Walter Conrad Arensberg, though Torrey first ensured a full-sized photographic replica was made for himself.
13. The controversial artwork gained recognition through public exhibition.
In 1950, Louise and Walter Arensberg donated their art collection to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This included several of Duchamp’s works, such as Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2, The, Fania (Profile), and With Hidden Noise. Over time, the painting has been celebrated for its innovative style and its role in sparking intense public debate.
14. It inspired numerous other artworks featuring nudes on staircases.
Tributes to Duchamp’s groundbreaking work include Gerard Richter’s Ema (Nude on a Staircase), Joan Miró’s Naked Woman Climbing a Staircase, Chuck Jones’s Nude Duck Descending A Staircase, and even a Calvin and Hobbes comic strip where the protagonist sighs in the final panel, "Nobody understands art."
15. Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 marked the beginning of Duchamp’s legacy of provoking controversy.
The uproar at the Armory Show inspired Duchamp to challenge traditional art norms. Soon after, he adopted Dadaism and introduced his "readymades," everyday objects like a bicycle wheel, a bottle rack, and a urinal. The latter, titled "Fountain," sparked another scandal in 1917. History, however, has vindicated Duchamp. In 2004, a survey of 500 art experts named this readymade the "most influential modern art work of all time."
