“Why is this art?” is a question often asked by viewers of contemporary art. It is virtually impossible to answer it without referring to the work of Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968). Over a six-decade career, Duchamp challenged the very definition of the artwork, ushering in a new era of creative license—the reverberations of which are still felt today. While resistant to “-isms,” Duchamp had a hand in modern art movements ranging from Cubism to Surrealism to Pop. His pursuits were marked by continuous reinvention and deliberate inconsistency: “I have forced myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste.”

Featuring some 300 artworks, this exhibition marks the first retrospective of the artist’s work in the United States since 1973. Scholarship mining the artist’s famously enigmatic work has flourished in the intervening half-century—as have myths and misconceptions. This exhibition offers a sweeping account of Duchamp’s multifaceted career across…