L.H.O.O.Q. and wrote "Moustache par Picabia / barbiche par Marcel Duchamp / avril 1942". As was the case with a number of his readymades, Duchamp made multiple versions of "L.H.O.O.Q." of differing sizes and in different media throughout his career, one of which, an unmodified black and white reproduction of the "Mona Lisa" mounted on card, is called "L.H.O.O.Q. Shaved". The masculinized female introduces the theme of gender reversal, which was popular with Duchamp, who adopted his own female pseudonym, Rrose Sélavy, pronounced "Eros, c'est la vie" ("Eros, that's life"). Primary responses to "L.H.O.O.Q." interpreted its meaning as being an attack
Marcel Duchamp erotic encounter between a bride and her nine bachelors. A performance of the stage adaptation of Roussel's novel "Impressions d'Afrique," which Duchamp attended in 1912, inspired the piece. Notes, sketches and plans for the work were drawn on his studio walls as early as 1913. In order to concentrate on the work free from material obligations, Duchamp found work as a librarian while living in France. After immigrating to the United States in 1915, he began work on the piece financed by the support of the Arensbergs. The piece is partly constructed as a retrospective of Duchamp's works, including a