«OHH, ART IS TOO HARD»

Marcel Duchamp’s only surviving readymade, the perfume flask Belle Haleine, Eau de Voilette, 1921, made a rare and brief appearance last week in Berlin. As Monopol and the Süddeutsche Zeitung report, the work used to be part of Yves Saint Laurent’s private collection until it was auctioned off two years ago for eleven million dollars in Paris. The buyer remains unknown. This solo exhibition––for only three days and nights––marks the work’s first appearance since the auction. Unlike Duchamp’s other readymades, which disappeared after their exhibition, Belle Haleine survived because the artist gave the work as a gift to his then-lover Yvonne Crotti.

-Artforum