The evolution of Conceptual art began with the experimental Dadaist Marcel Duchamp, whose “Readymade” works redefined the very foundations of art making. The most infamous of these works was the Fountain (1917), a reoriented porcelain urinal, which Duchamp signed and exhibited at the Society of Independent Artists. Detaching his work from the time-honored notion of artistic skill, Duchamp paved the way for Conceptual artists to value the idea above all other components of artwork. While Conceptualism took on on various forms, movements, and mediums throughout its development, the written, imagined and physical work produced from this concept changed the entire course of art history.

While primary exploration of Conceptualism began in the early part of the Twentieth century, the mid-1960s through the mid-1970s saw the greatest rise in the movement. Neo-Dadaists like John Cage, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jasper Johns rallied for idea-based art, and in 1967 Minimalist Sol LeWitt published what many regard as a Conceptualist manifesto, “Paragraphs on Conceptual Art,” in which he claimed, “It is the process of conception and realization with which the artist is concerned.” In this new ideology, the physical form, expression, and aesthetic of a work were not only discounted—they were considered irrelevant. While most Conceptual artists place concept above object some, like Lawrence Weiner, removed the object completely. In his 1968 “Declaration of Intent,” Weiner professed that the act of conceptualizing itself was enough—the act of creation was ideological as opposed to physical. While Conceptual art takes on many forms, such as the cut-up pieces of John Baldessari, the elaborate performances of Marina Abramovic or the high-brow installations of Joseph Kosuth and Walter de Maria, the guiding principles remain the same. Contemporary artists such as Jonathan Monk, Andrea Zittel, Gabriel Orozco, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Jenny Holzer, and Damien Hirst continue to push the boundaries of Conceptualism into the 21st century.