MoMA: Major Marcel Duchamp Retrospective

The Museum of Modern Art opened “Marcel Duchamp” on April 12, 2026, bringing nearly 300 works by the French-born American artist to Manhattan in the museum’s first North American retrospective of his work in more than 50 years. The exhibition runs through August 22 in the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Center for Special Exhibitions, according to MoMA’s exhibition page and press materials. MoMA said the show spans six decades and multiple mediums, including painting, sculpture, film, photography, drawings and printed matter. Time Out listed the exhibition among New York’s notable museum shows this week and this spring. ### Why is this show being treated as a major MoMA event? MoMA said the last major retrospective of Marcel Duchamp’s work was the 1973 survey co-organized by MoMA and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. That gap is central to how the museum is framing the 2026 exhibition: as the first chance in decades for North American audiences to see the breadth of Duchamp’s output in one place. (moma.org) Artforum reported that the exhibition was curated by Ann Temkin, Michelle Kuo and Matthew Affron. MoMA’s press material said the show was designed to present Duchamp across the full range of his practice rather than through a narrow focus on a few signature objects. ### What is actually in the galleries? Nearly 300 works are included in the exhibition, MoMA said, covering Duchamp’s career across painting, sculpture, photography, film, drawings and printed matter. (press.moma.org) The museum’s exhibition page highlights “The Box in a Valise” from 1935–41, which it describes as Duchamp’s “portable museum,” a miniature reproduction of his life’s work to that point. (artforum.com) MoMA said the exhibition also revisits the readymades that helped define Duchamp’s reputation, while placing them alongside less frequently discussed bodies of work. The museum’s artist page describes “Fountain,” the industrially produced urinal associated with Duchamp’s 1917 intervention into the definition of art, as a high point in his campaign to expand the boundaries of what could count as an artwork. (moma.org) ### Why does the museum emphasize more than the readymades? MoMA’s press text said Duchamp’s work interwove painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, photography, film, graphic design and exhibition design. The same text says his practice remained focused on recurring themes including chance, language, technology, eroticism, optics and chess. (moma.org) Michelle Kuo told Cultured that scholarship on Duchamp has expanded substantially since the earlier retrospective. That framing helps explain why the 2026 show is organized as a broad reconsideration of the artist’s output rather than a narrower survey of the readymades alone. That is an inference from MoMA’s stated scope and Kuo’s comments about the growth of Duchamp scholarship. (press.moma.org) ### Where is the exhibition, and how long is it up? The Museum of Modern Art lists “Marcel Duchamp” at 11 West 53rd Street in Manhattan on its exhibition calendar. The show opened on April 12 and closes on August 22, 2026, according to MoMA’s calendar entry and press release. Time Out’s New York listings for the week of May 18–24 included the exhibition among recommended things to do, noting that it is currently open this week. (culturedmag.com) The publication also highlighted the show in a spring exhibitions roundup. ### What should a visitor know before going? MoMA’s exhibition page is the primary source for dates and location, and the museum’s press page provides the fuller curatorial framing and scope. (moma.org) Time Out’s listings provide the current city-guide context for visitors looking for weekend plans in New York. August 22, 2026, is the scheduled closing date listed by MoMA, and the museum’s calendar page is the place to check exhibition details before visiting. (timeout.com) (moma.org)