“It all started with Duchamp, I couldn’t imagine a better artist or a more critical body of work to be the first exhibited in our new gallery at 980 Madison, a building he showed in just over sixty years ago.”—Larry Gagosian

The exhibition features the readymades that Duchamp produced in 1964 with the help of Italian gallerist Arturo Schwarz, given that many of the originals had been lost or destroyed over the years. Of these, Roue de bicyclette (Bicycle Wheel) (1964, after 1913 lost original) is the only surviving example not currently in the collection of a major international institution; other works on view include Fountain (1964, after 1917 lost original); L.H.O.O.Q. (1964, after 1919 original); Porte-bouteilles (Bottle Dryer) (1964, after 1914 lost original); and Boîte-en-valise (1935–49; contents 1935–41). In these works, Duchamp memorialized his own oeuvre while subverting ideas of artistic integrity, authorship, and originality.

The exhibition illustrates Duchamp’s continuing relevance to the work of contemporary artists who make use of recontextualization and irony. It illuminates his redirection of art toward a more conceptual realm, which laid the ground for Dada and Neo-Dada, Minimalism, performance art, and Fluxus. Duchamp withdrew the hand of the artist, paving the way for Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons; used found objects and addressed “non-art” subjects, informing the work of Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns; and embraced the operation of chance, inspiring artists from Urs Fischer to Damien Hirst.

The exhibition is accompanied by a book featuring statements by the artist, an essay by art historian and graphic designer Don Quaintance, and an interview with Koons about Duchamp’s enduring influence that also appears in the Spring 2026 issue of Gagosian Quarterly.