"He was wrong"

Two giants, Pablo Picasso and Marcel Duchamp, together for the first time. Picasso, who personified the modernist painter, and Duchamp, the indifferent ironist and chess genius, who challenged painting and transformed art into a maze of intellectual amusements.This catalogue represents a passionate confrontation between what are perhaps the greatest of rivals in 20th century art. Reflecting on the resistance each artist felt towards the other is especially meaningful given that 2012 is the centennial anniversary of the first meeting between Picasso and Duchamp.The contrasts between the two artists are explored, from Picasso's fascination with the Minotaur to Rrose Selavy, Duchamp's feminine alter ego. Before Picasso died in 1973, he had noted, with rising resentment, that other artists were challenging his legacy.Published on the occasion of the exhibition Picasso / Duchamp: "He was wrong" at Moderna Museet, Stockholm, 25 August 2012 – 3 March 2013.English and Swedish text.