Readymade

Paintings, scluptures... that's what people expect when they step into an art museum, right? Well, some artists have decided, throughout the history of humanity, to break society's conception of art. One of those artists was Marcel Duchamp, one of the main figures of dadaism and surrealism. An avant-garde mind, causer of much controversy, mostly due to his famous readymades.
A readymade is simply a found object, which is presented as art. There is the famous case of the "fountain", which was based on Marcel Duchamp picking an urinol, signing it with the pseudonym "R. Mutt" and presenting it as a piece of art. Another famous (yet different) case was a parody Duchamp made on the Mona Lisa. He bought a cheap copy and added a mustache and goatee to it.
Here go some fine examples of readymades for you (including the ones mentioned above):










"I don't believe in art. I believe in artists."
By: Marcel Duchamp