Duchamp playing chess a naked ladyuchamp playing chess with a naked lady

Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) The great artist of the vanguard, went through different creative processes throughout their career. In his last phase he devoted himself to play chess assuming that this is a practice that unifies the mental process and conceptual. New York as gaining strength and is taking over the artistic essence of Europe, the old continent, is being introduced this Arab game in more contemporary works.

Photo of the exhibition. Work by Wassily Kandinsky

Not only was Duchamp, the only one to include the board in his works, other artists like Kandinsky or Rodoreda are a clear example of this little tool was gaining strength to rise on the scale of modernism. This leitmotiv, curated by Manuel Segade is a retrospective of how this intellectual metaphor was the purest form of social entertainment for the minds of artists.

Sonia Delaunay. Concurrent dresses (3 women, shapes, colors) 1925. Photo: Barcelonaturisme

Current exposure and can be enjoyed until January 22, 2017 in the Miró (Barcelona) foundation. It consists of 80 pieces, both painting and sculpture. Many of these pieces come from public collections and private European, American and Middle East. Some of these unpublished pieces in Spain endorse all this theory of the great Duchamp.

Francisco González, president of BBVA, during the inauguration of the exhibition 'End of Departure'. Photo: BBVA

Within these collections there are very eclectic works, posters, original documents, movies, books and private and public archives, among others. The works date from 1910 to 1972 and include among them four readymades of Duchamp and historical chess games designed by Calder, Yoko Ono and Ernst. There are also works by avant-garde artists as Sonia Delaunay, Paul Klee or from the Pompidou and the Museum of Israel. This is a must for any calendar.