Author
Dada
Fountain
Marcel Duchamp's Fountain — an ordinary factory urinal signed 'R. Mutt': the gesture that declared art is made by the idea, not the hand.
Its value is the idea of the readymade: the artist does not make the object but chooses it and changes its context. So conceptual art was born, where the idea matters more than execution.
Highlights
Surprising facts & legends
Short but striking stories around the work — the things that make it come alive.
Interesting facts
The story around the work
Interesting facts & legends
- The original Fountain is lost — it is known only from one 1917 photograph by Alfred Stieglitz.
- Duchamp signed the urinal with the false name 'R. Mutt' to hide his authorship.
- The exhibition claimed to accept any work for a fee — yet it still rejected Fountain, and Duchamp resigned in protest.
- In 2004, 500 British experts named Fountain the most influential artwork of the 20th century, ahead of Picasso and Matisse.
- About 17 authorised replicas exist — those are what museums display.
Estimated value
What it is worth today
The original Fountain is lost; authorized replicas are in museums, and one sold at auction in 1999 for $1.76 million.
More details Open the extended reading, official sources, and visual context around the work
Historical context
Fountain in its era
In 1917 Duchamp bought a factory urinal, turned it on its back, signed it 'R. Mutt 1917' and submitted it to the Society of Independent Artists in New York under the title 'Fountain'. The jury refused to show it.
Path to recognition
How the work became widely known
The original is lost — it survives only in a photograph by Alfred Stieglitz. The scandal made Fountain the most discussed gesture of the 20th century; in a 2004 poll of experts it was named the most influential work of modern art.
Value
Why the work matters today
Its value is the idea of the readymade: the artist does not make the object but chooses it and changes its context. So conceptual art was born, where the idea matters more than execution.
Connections and legacy
How to read the work more broadly
Fountain opened the way to all of conceptualism, pop and contemporary art; today authorised replicas are held in the Tate, the Centre Pompidou and other museums.
Official sources
Where to verify the institutional context
- Official institution page Tate, London
Visual context
Related images and nearby entry points
What to look at
Three entry points into the work
Even a very famous artwork opens more fully when the viewer knows where to look for tension, meaning, and compositional focus.
- See not the object but the artist's act of choosing.
- Note the 'R. Mutt' signature — a fake name as part of the provocation.
- Ask what makes a thing art — that is the subject.
More by the artist
More works: Marcel Duchamp
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Continue the exhibition
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This makes it easier to move through art not as a list of names, but as a connected system of images, themes, and historical gestures.
