, 2008. Fibreglass stone and airplane. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Purchased 2011. Photo © Roman März](/images/content/menuSeeGallery.png)
Benjamin West
The Death of General Wolfe (Detail), 1770
oil on canvas
152.6 x 214.5 cm
Transfer from the Canadian War Memorials, 1921 (Gift of the 2nd Duke of Westminster, England, 1918)
National Gallery of Canada (no. 8007)
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Bicycle Wheel, 1913, 6th version 1964
Marcel Duchamp
French, 1887
- 1968
bicycle fork with wheel mounted on painted wooden stool
126 x 64 x 31.5 cm overall; stool: 53 x 31.5 x 31.5 cm; wheel: 74 x 64 x 14.5 cm
Purchased 1971
National Gallery of Canada (no. 29947)
© Estate of Marcel Duchamp / ADAGP / SODRAC
Duchamp called into question what defines a work of art by modifying or repositioning select fabricated objects. This is his first readymade, which he created with a bicycle wheel and fork, and a kitchen stool, producing a "machine" that does not work. By creating art out of manufactured items, he rejected established notions of aesthetic value and the process of creativity. Reflecting on his readymades in 1968, he said: "They look trivial, but they're not. On the contrary, they represent a much higher degree of intellectuality."
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