There is a certain frisson, even of intrigue, when we imagine one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, the Frenchman Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) walking down the streets of the city of Buenos Aires. The father of conceptual art lived for nine months, from 1918 to 1919, in an apartment he rented at 1743 Alsina street, in the middle of the Monserrat district, and spent most of his time playing chess at a local club. Yet the irreverent French artist’s stay in the land of the River Plate gave rise to endless conjecture and rumor. He was, after all, the creator of the readymade, which in art means taking household objects out of their usual context to turn them into artworks, such as the famous porcelain urinal which was rebaptized Fountain. On the side wall of the emblematic house where he stayed, today a listed building, the French artist François Abelanet painted a vast mural measuring 64 m2 in red, black and white, which offers unsuspecting passers by an optical illusion. Entitled L'anamorphose, Abelanet’s work is inspired by Duchamp’s oeuvre and is thus an homage to his countryman.
