What is Readymade?

An idea born in a studio, named in New York

The first readymade arrived quietly. In 1913 Marcel Duchamp fixed a bicycle wheel upside down on a kitchen stool in his Paris studio — less a declaration than an experiment he later said he enjoyed watching spin, "like watching a fire." A galvanised bottle rack followed in 1914, bought at the Bazar de l'Hôtel de Ville. Only after moving to New York in 1915 did Duchamp coin the English word "readymade" for these works, inscribing a snow shovel with the title In Advance of the Broken Arm — though even that inscription was minimal by design. The point was selection, not craft.

The idea detonated in 1917, when Duchamp submitted a porcelain urinal signed "R. Mutt" to the Society of Independent Artists in New York. Fountain was refused despite the society's open policy, and the ensuing debate — conducted partly in the small journal The Blind Man — set out the argument that still defines the movement:

"Whether Mr Mutt with his own hands made the fountain or not has no importance. He CHOSE it. He took an ordinary article of life, placed it so that its useful significance disappeared under the new title and point of view — created a new thought for that object."

The Blind Man, no. 2, New York, 1917 (unsigned editorial)

The long afterlife

Duchamp made relatively few readymades — he warned against the "habit-forming drug" of repetition — and distinguished pure readymades from "assisted" ones, where objects were combined or altered. Yet the gesture proved inexhaustible. Neo-Dada and Pop artists such as Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol absorbed the logic of the manufactured object; conceptual artists took up the primacy of the idea over the hand; appropriation artists of the 1980s, including Sherrie Levine and Haim Steinbach, made the act of selection itself their medium. Later figures — Jeff Koons with his suspended basketballs and cast inflatables, Ai Weiwei with his Han dynasty urns and bicycles — extended the readymade into fabrication, politics and spectacle. A century on, almost any artwork built from found or store-bought material stands, knowingly or not, in Duchamp's shadow.

Why the certificate matters more than the object

Collecting in the readymade tradition inverts the usual hierarchy. With a painting, the physical object is the artwork; with a readymade, the object is often replaceable and the authorisation is not. Nearly all of Duchamp's original readymades were lost — friends and family discarded them as the ordinary objects they appeared to be. The versions in major museums today are largely replicas, most importantly the editions Duchamp authorised with the Milan dealer Arturo Schwarz in 1964, produced in editions of eight plus proofs, each signed and accompanied by documentation. Far from diminishing their status, Duchamp's sanction is precisely what makes them canonical. The lesson for collectors is direct: with readymade-based work, provenance, certificates and the artist's authorisation constitute the core of what you own. A signed certificate, a documented exhibition history and a clear chain of ownership can matter more than the condition of the object itself.

Practical questions to ask

Before acquiring a work in this tradition, establish exactly what is being sold. Is it a unique work, an authorised edition, or an installation that may be refabricated? If components are mass-produced — a lightbulb, a chair, a commercial print — ask whether the artist or estate permits replacement of damaged parts, and whether written instructions exist. Many contemporary artists working with found objects issue detailed installation and conservation protocols; their absence is worth noting in negotiation.

Condition assessment also differs from other media. Wear that would devalue a bronze may be integral to a found object chosen precisely for its used character, while a pristine manufactured surface may need protecting from exactly the ordinary handling it seems to invite. Never clean, repaint or repair such a work without consulting the artist, estate or a conservator familiar with contemporary materials — a well-meaning polish can erase the evidence of authenticity.

On value, the market rewards the same fundamentals as elsewhere: the significance of the gesture within the artist's career, early or authorised examples over later unauthorised copies, and airtight documentation. Readymade-based works by major figures have achieved substantial prices, but the category is unforgiving of gaps in paperwork. Buy the idea, verify the authorisation, and keep every document that comes with it — with this movement, the paper trail is part of the art.