A painting of Mona Lisa with moustache by French-American painter, sculptor and writer Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) was sold for $750,000 at Sotheby’s auction in Paris on Oct. 21.
The artwork was among a collection of Dadaist and surrealist paintings owned by art investigator American Arthur Brand (1870-1943) put on sale in Paris.
Over a color reproduction of the Mona Lisa, the enigmatic portrait painting by Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Duchamp has added in pencil a moustache and a goatee, according to the website of Sotheby’s (Sothebys.com).
This version of Mona Lisa has been authenticated by the Association Marcel Duchamp. It had a presale estimate of $527,000 to $791,000. It is signed Duchamp.
Created in 1964 in Neuilly-sur-Seine commune, west of Paris, the painting is one of 38 made by the artist to be included in a limited-edition by French writer Pierre de Massot’s ‘Marcel Duchamp, propos et souvenirs,’ published by Galleria Schwarz in Milan, Italy.
Duchamp created the first of such paintings in 1919. It is known as original rectified Readymade, a term coined by Duchamp for the common manufactured objects that he converted into works of art by choosing and inscribing them.
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