Marcel Broodthaers

Poet, filmmaker, and artist Marcel Broodthaers used his practice to make incisive political statements and critique art institutions. In one of his most famous works, Broodthaers mounted an exhibition as a single work titled Musée d’Art Moderne (1968). The piece included hundreds of readymade and fabricated objects, each labeled with the words “This is not a work of art,” a homage to his biggest influences, Marcel Duchamp and René Magritte. In fact, Magritte once gave Broodthaers a copy of Stéphane Mallarmé’s Un Coup de Des, which would become an instrumental source of inspiration for the artist. Broodthaers’ practice is based on re-appropriation and re-presentation of other artists’ work, and is often described by critics and historians as wry, witty, and rebellious. His short active career spanned only 12 years.