(MENAFN- EIN Presswire) EINPresswire/ -- A newly resurfaced painting linked to Marcel Duchamp 's early New York period may significantly revise the accepted timeline of his work. The painting, Morée (c. 1915), is the subject of a new research study published under DOI 10.17613/z1c8e-rvk19, which argues that Morée-hidden for more than a century-functions as a missing keystone connecting Nude Descending a Staircase to Étant donnés.

According to the study, Morée presents a theatrical,“waterfalling” backdrop with pearls suspended above a rising dark wave. The canvas bears a deliberately abraded signature reading“..Morée...,” interpreted as a punning title meaning“she who has died.” The research proposes that Duchamp created the work in response to the widespread misreading of Nude Descending a Staircase No. 2 at the 1913 Armory Show, where its integrated string of pearls was widely mistaken for mechanical“motion rings.”

In this framework, Morée becomes a private burial for the 1912 Nude and a marker of Duchamp's withdrawal from conventional painting. The research also identifies echoes of Morée in works produced around 1917 by figures within Duchamp's New York circle. Another possible reference appears in the black photographic mourning border surrounding Nude Descending a Staircase No. 3, whose meaning remained unclear until the resurfacing of Morée.

The title Étant donnés: 1° la chute d'eau / 2° le gaz d'éclairage, first recorded in Duchamp's notes around 1914–15, is also reconsidered in light of Morée. The“waterfall” is linked to the descending backdrop of Morée, while the“illuminating gas” corresponds to the gas lamp held by the nude figure in Étant donnés. The research proposes that the illuminated body in Duchamp's final tableau represents the corpse of the 1912 Nude-a connection visible only once Morée is restored to the sequence.

The complete visual documentation and reconstructed timeline are available at
and archived at
.

According to the study, Duchamp may have devised a two-part structure spanning fifty years:

1. Morée (1915) - a private burial of the 1912 Nude

2. Étant donnés (1946–66) - a delayed revelation of her identity

If accurate, these findings would place Morée at the conceptual origin of Duchamp's late work and require a revision of early New York Dada chronology.

About the Morée Research Project

The Morée Research Project investigates the provenance, structure, and historical implications of Morée, a newly surfaced painting associated with Marcel Duchamp's early New York years. The project maintains an open-access archive, publishes independent scholarship, and welcomes dialogue with curators, scholars, and researchers in modern art and cultural history.

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