The Secret Lives of Artists: Marcel Duchamp | Podcast Episode 1
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An episode of The Secret Lives of ArtistsNext episode: The Secret Lives of Artists: John Cage | Podcast Episode 2
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About this episode
Marcel Duchamp rewrote the rules of modern art, but also happened to be obsessed with one of the most rule-bound games ever invented—chess. MoMA Chief Curator Ann Temkin, Duchamp scholar Francis Naumann, and host Naeem Douglas retrace Duchamp’s journey from a provocative young artist to a devoted chess player and ask whether the strategy he brought to the board also appears in the choices that defined his career.
This is episode 1 of MoMA’s new podcast "The Secret Lives of Artists," which tells the stories you don’t know about the artists you think you do. Each concise episode explores the secret talents and obsessive pursuits of some of our favorite modern artists. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
0:00 - Cold open 0:48 - Theme Music and Introduction 1:47 - Marcel Duchamp’s Origin Story 4:06 - Nude Descending a Staircase and The Readymades 6:48 - Étant donnés 8:20 - “Stupid like a painter” 9:43 - How the Love Affair with Chess Begins 10:42 - For The Love of the Game 11:57 - Was Duchamp Any Good at Chess? 13:00 - Chess for Life 16:00 - Did Duchamp Win The Game? 19:49 - Closing and credits
Host: Naeem Douglas Executive producers: Prudence Peiffer, Alex Halberstadt, Naeem Douglas Writing and research: Prudence Peiffer, Alex Halberstadt, Naeem Douglas with additional research by Caroline Nieto. Engineered and mixed by Zubin Hensler Original score by Pablo Altar Special thanks to The Secret Lives of Artists guests as well as: Jason Persse; Sara Bodinson, Arlette Hernandez; Maude Campbell; Kyla Mathis-Angress; Stina Sawdust; our Marketing colleagues and our AV technicians.
Thumbnail - Duchamp at Chess Board. Museum: PRIVATE COLLECTION. Author: Arnold T. Rosenberg. Contains excerpt of A Conversation with Marcel Duchamp (1956), directed by Robert D. Graff
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- Posted by
- The Museum of Modern Art, the YouTube channel of The Museum of Modern Art, on 2026-10-07
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- The Museum of Modern Art, whose own site links this channel (checked 2026-10-31)
- Length
- 21 min
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