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Marcel Duchamp's "L.H.O.O.Q" is a provocative altered reproduction
of Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Duchamp added a moustache and
goatee to the Mona Lisa's upper lip and chin, giving the artwork its
new title. This title plays on the French phrase "Elle a chaud au cul,"
meaning "She has a hot ass." Unlike most of his readymades, where
he transformed ordinary objects into art, Duchamp takes an iconic
masterpiece and playfully subverts it. By giving the Mona Lisa
masculine features, he hints at Leonardo's rumored homosexuality
and the androgynous nature of creativity. Duchamp's work reflects
his interest in gender role-reversals, a theme later explored by Man
Ray in portraits of the artist as his female alter ego, Rrose Selavy.
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In the center, a winding road
connects both Narcissus images,
where his rejected suitors weep in
grief. Another figure, positioned on a
checkerboard plinth, represents
Narcissus admiring his own
physique, conveying a sense of loss.
Salvador Dali's painting, "Metamorphosis of Narcissus," is his first
creation based on the 'paranoiac-critical' method. Inspired by the
myths of Narcissus, it delves into an abnormal obsession with self, a
theme familiar to Dali himself. The artwork presents two forms of
Narcissus: one depicts him gazing at his reflection in a pool, his body
turning to stone, symbolizing his immobility and impending death.
The other form portrays his petrified body transformed into a hand
holding an egg from which a narcissus flower grows, completing his
metamorphosis.
The painting's composition is divided by a vertical cliff, emphasizing
the balance between the two Narcissus forms. Warm colors on the
left suggest lingering life, while cold colors on the right represent his
passing. Ants, symbolizing transformation, populate the scene,
echoing Dali's recurring theme of recycling energy from dead matter.
• Futurism was an Italian art movement of the early twentieth century that aimed to
capture in art the dynamism and energy of the modern world. This was launched
by the Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti in 1909.

• Among modernist movements futurism was exceptionally vehement in its

denunciation of the past. This was because in Italy the weight of past culture was
felt as particularly oppressive. In the Manifesto, Marinetti asserted that ‘we will
free Italy from her innumerable museums which cover her like countless
cemeteries’. What the futurists proposed instead was an art that celebrated the
modern world of industry and technology.
Entranced by the idea of the “dynamic,” the Futurists sought to
represent an object’s sensations, rhythms and movements in their
images, poems and manifestos. Such characteristics are
beautifully expressed in Boccioni’s most iconic masterpiece,
Unique Forms of Continuity in Space.
• Impressionism was an art movement in France at the end of the 19th century. The
Impressionists were a group of artists renowned for their innovative painting
techniques and approach to using color in art.

• Impressionist art is a style of painting that emerged in the mid-to-late 1800s and
emphasizes an artist's immediate impression of a moment or scene, usually
communicated through the use of light and its reflection, short brushstrokes, and
separation of colors. Impressionist painters, such as Claude Monet in his
"Impression: Sunrise" and Edgar Degas in "Ballet Class," often used modern life as
their subject matter and painted quickly and freely, capturing light and movement
in a way that had not been tried before.
"Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge" is a significant achievement for
Claude Monet, showcasing his Giverny gardens and the series of
paintings they inspired. In 1883, Monet moved to this small town
near Paris and started redesigning his property. In 1893, he
expanded the site by acquiring an adjacent area with a brook,
creating an Asian-inspired oasis with lush greens, exotic plants,
and a tranquil setting, complete with a Japanese footbridge. This
painting is part of a series where Monet repeatedly painted the
same scene under varying weather and lighting conditions, a
formal innovation. Monet was dedicated to painting directly from
nature and often worked on multiple canvases in a single day. His
quest to capture the ever-changing atmospheric conditions
became a defining characteristic of Impressionist art.