Widely recognized as one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century, Marcel Duchamp ushered in a new era of modern art as he challenged traditional artwork and shocked the artistic community. Born into a family of sculptors and painters in 1887, Duchamp was immediately thrown into the world of artists. Duchamp went to an art school in Paris, yet very little of this influenced his artwork. His two oldest brothers, Jacques Villon and Raymond Duchamp-Villon, were involved in the cubism movement and made many notable contributions which influenced Marcel to pursue cubist art. Duchamp eventually began to develop an analytic cubism style; a approach that finds its roots in intellectually stimulated works that derive their inspiration from the Industrial Revolution. Furthermore, the theoretical writings of Henri Poincaré, caused Duchamp to tolerate any interpretation of his art, which is why the onlooker is vital in understanding Large Glass (Marcel).  This means Duchamp did not assign one specific meaning or purpose for his artwork; he wanted the onlooker to form his own individual opinion.    

After his painting Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 (1912) was banned from a show and provoked controversy, Duchamp wanted to leave behind what he called ‘retinal’ art, art only for the eyes.  Instead, he decided to use literature and art in conjunction. This momentous event in his life allowed Duchamp to begin to develop his own sense of artistic individuality. The majority of Duchamp’s few works are a combination of dada and surrealism; surrealism is further discussed on the Dali page.  Duchamp, along with many others artists of the early twentieth century, found Dadaism as a means to express their profound sense of rage and grief over the suffering and human immorality in World War I. Dada was deliberately anti-art and anti-sense; it was intended to shock and scandalize people, and Large Glass did so. According to Chalupesky, Duchamp thought that art should “point beyond the three-dimensional and lead to the four-dimensional (Paz).  This theme of motion and indefinite time is consistent in Large Glass as well. The transparent qualities of the glass allow him to show that “Painting is a criticism of movement but movement is the criticism of painting” (Paz). 

When interpreting The Large Glass, it is important to note that there is no correct interpretation. Duchamp not only contradicted himself in his writings, but never revealed the truest meanings of the work because he wanted the onlooker to interpret it. However, the overarching subject of this work is the machinery of sexual desire. Duchamp kept notes on his ideas about The Large Glass in what was named The Green Box. The Green Box, located next to The Large Glass in the museum, is comprised of various notes and drawings about The Large Glass, and many of his notes explain facets of the piece that one would never see were it not for the notes.  Therefore, Duchamp believed that this collection of notes was equally as important as the piece itself.  The Large Glass looks like a highly complex machine, and it illustrates the desire between a bride and her bachelor’s in a mechanical process.  The work consists of an upper area, called the Bride’s domain, and a lower area, called the Bachelor’s domain. The cloud in the Bride’s domain is a telegraph system through which the Bride sends her sexual desires to the bachelors, thus setting in motion the machinery of love-making. The bachelors, located at the left side of the Bachelor’s domain, are working to turn the water mill to make the chocolate grinder, in the middle of the Bachelor’s domain, turn. The chocolate grinder then grinds out an imaginary milky substance:  semen. This substance then shoots up towards the Bride’s domain through the various rings on the right side. This projection is, however, blocked by the metal bar which separates the upper and lower domain (The Shock of the New World).  This results in the bride being condemned to always tease the bachelors who are trapped by the metal bar. The bachelor’s fate is said to be a state of “endless masturbation” because the bride is desirable but unattainable (The Shock of the New World). The bachelors are wholly passive, “[waiting] stupidly for the signal to perform the basic male function that is required of them here” (Tomkins, 6). Overall, The Large Glass turned the art world upside-down and still today causes controversy and conflict over potential deeper meanings on a cynical representation of the relationship between men, women, and sexual desire.

The Large Glass is located in a room full of Duchamp’s other works. One of the most influential paintings, Nude Descending a Staircase, is also located in this room.  This painting, as aforementioned, was banned from a show and provoked controversy, pushed Duchamp away from cubism and towards the styles exhibited in The Large Glass. The Large Glass is conveniently located in the center of the room with its back facing a window which gives the work an ever-changing background due to the glass’ transparency.  With a change in sunlight or weather, the work can be seen in a new light.  Years later, Dennis Summers made this amusing animation of the elements in Large Glass.

.