By the time of World War I , he had rejected the work of many of his fellow artists such as Henri Matisse as " retinal ", intended only to please the eye. Instead, he wanted to use art to serve the mind. Of Eugene and Lucie Duchamp's seven children, one died as an infant and four became successful artists. Marcel Duchamp was the brother of:. As a child, with his two elder brothers already away from home at school in Rouen , Duchamp was closer to his sister Suzanne, who was a willing accomplice in games and activities conjured by his fertile imagination.
Two other students in his class also became well-known artists and lasting friends: Robert Antoine Pinchon and Pierre Dumont. Though he was not an outstanding student, his best subject was mathematics and he won two mathematics prizes at the school. He also won a prize for drawing in , and at his commencement in he won a coveted first prize, validating his recent decision to become an artist.
He learned academic drawing from a teacher who unsuccessfully attempted to "protect" his students from Impressionism , Post-Impressionism , and other avant-garde influences. However, Duchamp's true artistic mentor at the time was his brother Jacques Villon, whose fluid and incisive style he sought to imitate. At 14, his first serious art attempts were drawings and watercolors depicting his sister Suzanne in various poses and activities. That summer he also painted landscapes in an Impressionist style using oils.
Duchamp's early art works align with Post-Impressionist styles. He experimented with classical techniques and subjects. When he was later asked about what had influenced him at the time, Duchamp cited the work of Symbolist painter Odilon Redon , whose approach to art was not outwardly anti-academic, but quietly individual. During this time, Duchamp drew and sold cartoons which reflected his ribald humor. Many of the drawings use verbal puns sometimes spanning multiple languages , visual puns , or both.
Such play with words and symbols engaged his imagination for the rest of his life. In , he began his compulsory military service with the 39th Infantry Regiment, [ 14 ] working for a printer in Rouen.
