From or by Marcel Duchamp or Rose Sélavy (The Box in a Valise), circa 1943
Mixed media
object: 41 x 38 x 8 cm; displayed: 96 x 38 x 8 cm
Tate. Lent from a private collection 1999

Duchamp saw The Box in a Valise as a 'portable museum'. It contains miniature versions of many of his earlier works. The last painting Duchamp ever made, Tu m' 1918, can be seen here in miniature to the front right in the display case. Tu m' summarised Duchamp's investigations to date, including his groundbreaking invention of the Readymade. The cascade of colour samples at the top of the work was inspired by a paint manufacturer's catalogue. Tu m' set the stage for the interpretation of colour itself as readymade - a notion that would become a widespread artistic preoccupation only three decades later.