The Kunsthaus Zürich is currently showcasing the world’s first retrospective dedicated to Suzanne Duchamp, the pioneering Dadaist and painter. Sister of Marcel, Raymond, and Jacques Duchamp, Suzanne Duchamp was a trailblazer who significantly shaped art history. This comprehensive exhibition presents her work globally for the first time, spanning all facets of her artistic journey, including her abrupt and still unexplained break with Dadaism.
Suzanne Duchamp (1889-1963) navigated the boundary between painting and wordplay in her art. Her works oscillate between abstraction and figuration, often accompanied by enigmatic titles that evoke new associations. Her friend Katherine S. Dreier aptly described her as a „half-abstract painter,“ capturing the essence of her unique body of work that defies conventional art-historical categorisation.
As part of the Parisian avant-garde, Suzanne Duchamp experimented with cubist fragments of cityscapes and interiors in her early works before embracing Dadaism. Her pieces blended painting with poetry and explored diverse media and materials. While her painting increasingly shifted towards abstraction in the 1910s, she remained anchored to visual reference points. In 1922, for reasons unknown, she made an unexpected break with Dadaism and turned to figurative painting, often infused with ironic undertones.
This comprehensive retrospective at Kunsthaus Zürich presents Suzanne Duchamp’s oeuvre in its full diversity, uniting her Dadaist works with earlier and later creative phases. New research has uncovered numerous previously unknown or long-overlooked works, which are now being unveiled to the public in this breadth.
This exhibition showcases around 50 paintings, 20 works on paper, and rare archival materials and vintage photographs, providing a comprehensive overview of Duchamp’s work. Highlights include rare loans from international museums and private collections, such as MoMA in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. The retrospective was conceived by guest curator Talia Kwartler in collaboration with Kunsthaus curator Cathérine Hug. It was realised in close partnership with the Association Duchamp Villon Crotti and the Kunsthalle Schirn in Frankfurt am Main, where it is presented under the curation of Ingrid Pfeiffer (10 October 2025 - 11 January 2026). The exhibition Suzanne Duchamp, Retrospective at Kunsthaus Zürich runs until September 7, 2025.
Suzanne Duchamp Retrospective at Kunsthaus Zürich. Zürich (Switzerland), Juni 5, 2025.
