Collection: Moi Aussi

Marcel Broodthaers published several volumes of poetry but struggled to earn a living from his writing. In 1964, he renounced his vocation as a poet and began making visual art. He announced his first exhibition, at the Galerie Saint Laurent in Brussels, with an invitation that was also a sort of manifesto (screenprinted over the pages of womens' magazines, so that each was unique):

"I, too, wondered whether I could not sell something and succeed in life. For some time I have been good for nothing. I am forty years old . . . Finally the idea of inventing something insincere crossed my mind and I set to work straightaway. At the end of three months I showed what I had produced to Edouard Toussaint, the owner of the Galerie Saint Laurent. 'But it is art,' he said 'and I will willingly exhibit all of it.' 'Agreed,' I replied. If I sell something he takes 30%. It seems these are the usual conditions, some galleries take 75%. What is it? In fact, objects."