Bicycle Wheel

work by Duchamp

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June 22, 2026

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The Bicycle Wheel (1913) by Marcel Duchamp is considered the first "ready-made" artwork. It consists of a bicycle wheel mounted on a stool. Duchamp created this piece as a protest against the high value placed on traditional art objects. He selected everyday, mass-produced items to challenge the idea of a unique art object, proposing that art could be an intellectual rather than a material process. This concept influenced movements like Dada, Pop art, and conceptual art.12

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Marcel Duchamp
Farewell to art
In 1913 he produced the Bicycle Wheel, which was simply an ordinary bicycle wheel. In 1914 Pharmacy consisted of a commercial print of a winter landscape, to which he added two small figures reminiscent of pharmacists’ bottles. It was nearly 40 years before the ready-mades were seen as more than…
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In 1913 he produced the Bicycle Wheel, which was simply an ordinary bicycle wheel. In 1914 Pharmacy consisted of a commercial print of a winter landscape, to which he added two small figures reminiscent of pharmacists’ bottles. It was nearly 40 years before the ready-mades were seen as more than…
Read More

ready-made
Duchamp created the first ready-made, Bicycle Wheel (1913), which consisted of a wheel mounted on a stool, as a protest against the excessive importance attached to works of art. This work was technically a “ready-made assisted,” because the artist intervened by combining two objects. Duchamp subsequently made “pure ready-mades,” each…
Read More
Duchamp created the first ready-made, Bicycle Wheel (1913), which consisted of a wheel mounted on a stool, as a protest against the excessive importance attached to works of art. This work was technically a “ready-made assisted,” because the artist intervened by combining two objects. Duchamp subsequently made “pure ready-mades,” each…
Read More