Marcel Duchamp, the Gambler

What was one of the most radical artists of the 20th century doing playing roulette in the casinos of Monte Carlo? And why did he insist, as he honed his complex gambling system, armed with capital from a risky financial scheme, that “I haven’t stopped being a painter, now I draw on chance”?

This article is drawn from UCalgary Department of Art and Art History's associate professor Trevor Stark's book on the importance of the poet Stéphane Mallarmé for debates among European avant-garde artists about chance, the nature of language, and the hazards of communication. While the full chapter argues that Duchamp had Mallarmé’s impossible dream of “abolishing chance” in mind as he confronted the incipient financialization of art, this excerpt lays out Duchamp’s strategy to break the bank in Monte Carlo and his quixotic hope to render roulette into a game of chess.

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*The original article published The MIT Press Reader