Morée - A Hidden Duchamp That Reframes History

Morée: Marcel Duchamp and the Hidden Origin of Dada

Painted ca. 1915-16, Morée is a mysterious work that may rewrite the early history of Dada. Its surface-a dramatic theatrical field crossed by acidic drips and suspended pearls-reveals an intelligence at odds with ornament and display. The scraped signature, reading "..Morée..," suggests deliberate concealment: a pseudonym and a clue.

This book presents the first sustained study of Morée, arguing that it was conceived within Marcel Duchamp's New York circle and functions as a coded experiment in authorship, sabotage, and self-erasure. Through close visual, material, and chronological analysis, it reconstructs the painting's relationship to Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase, Francis Picabia's Mistinguett, and the later culmination of Étant donnés.

Drawing on archival evidence and newly documented physical details, Morée: Marcel Duchamp and the Hidden Origin of Dada proposes that the painting is not a derivative echo of Dada but its silent precursor-a work designed to remain unrecognized until the right historical moment. It invites readers to consider that modern art's first true act of critique may have been one of disguise.