Marcel Duchamp’s readymades read and made: Duchamp’s linguistic heritage and jokes.

A 2004 survey named Marcel Duchamp's work Fountain the most influential work of art of the twentieth century. His oeuvre has often been interpreted by Anglophones. I examine his oeuvre through his Norman linguistic and literary heritage and demonstrate that his readymades were created with consistent linguistic strategies using slang, puns and jokes. His disregard for the 'retinal' and his insistence on the 'intellectual' were instrumental in his quest to inject humour into the arts, to no longer tromper l'oeil (fool the eye), but instead to tromper l'esprit (fool the mind) avec son esprit (with his wit).