Art & Design
Dadaism Quiz
Duchamp's urinal, Cabaret Voltaire, anti-art — the WWI rejection of meaning
Duchamp's urinal, Cabaret Voltaire, anti-art — the WWI rejection of meaning
Marcel Duchamp's 1917 'Fountain' — a porcelain urinal signed 'R. Mutt' — was voted the most influential artwork of the 20th century in a 2004 poll of 500 art-world figures. Born in 1916 Zurich during the carnage of WWI, Dada rejected reason, bourgeois society, and the very idea of art itself. This quiz covers the founders, manifestos, and provocations that reshaped what art could be.
Each round presents 10 randomized questions from a pool of 50, with four multiple-choice options and instant feedback after every answer. Your final score comes with a performance tier and shareable results.
You'll explore Cabaret Voltaire and the Zurich founders, Duchamp's readymades, Berlin's political photomontages, Hannah Höch and Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Schwitters' Merzbau, the New York and Paris hubs, and Dada's pivot into Surrealism, Pop, Fluxus, and beyond.
Dada was an avant-garde art and literary movement that began in Zurich in 1916 as a protest against WWI, nationalism, and bourgeois rationality. It embraced absurdity, chance, and 'anti-art' as foundations for a new cultural attitude.
'Fountain' (1917) is a porcelain urinal signed 'R. Mutt' submitted by French-American artist Marcel Duchamp to the Society of Independent Artists exhibition in New York. It was rejected, but went on to become one of the most influential artworks of the 20th century.
Dada started in Zurich, Switzerland, at Cabaret Voltaire on Spiegelgasse 1, opened on February 5, 1916, by Hugo Ball and Emmy Hennings. Switzerland was a neutral country during WWI and had become a refuge for artists fleeing the war.
Last updated: May 2026