The artwork titled “King and Queen,” created by Marcel Duchamp in 1968 in Milan, Italy, employs aquatint, etching, and paper as its mediums. This piece is representative of the Surrealism art movement and falls within the figurative genre. It is part of the series “The Large Glass and Related Works, with Nine Etchings by Marcel Duchamp on the Theme of The Lovers.”
The artwork features an abstract composition primarily built around a cluster of interlocking, cubic forms, which seem to defy conventional spatial orientation. To the upper left and lower left of this central mass are two distinct shapes: one resembling a butterfly or mask, and the other akin to a spiked motif, possibly indicative of royal insignia. The entire composition is defined by clean lines and a meticulous attention to detail, characteristic of Duchamp’s avant-garde approach, exploring themes that intersect formality with subtle nuances of Surrealist abstraction.
