Following the completion of his black and white monochrome paintings in 1951, Rauschenberg considered how to make monochrome drawings. Deciding that the erasure of his own work did not constitute art, in 1953 he requested a drawing from Willem de Kooning that Rauschenberg then erased, christening the final result “monochrome no-image.”

This room contains works that amplify Rauschenberg’s notion by becoming “monochromes with-image,” or works that incorporate vague figurations, abstractions, different textures, and additions of text. Such works augment the monochrome in appearance but depart from its emphasis on the visual to include a wide range of subject matter.

Vitaly Komar and Alex Melamid, Stalin with Hitler’s Remains from the series Anarchistic Synthesism, 1985-86. Oil on canvas, 84 ¼ x 60 ¼ inches (214 x 153 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. Museum purchase, 1992.8.1. © Vitaly Komar and Alex Melamid. Courtesy of Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York, New York. Photo by Peter Paul Geoffrion.

Ai Weiwei, Marble Chair, 2008. Marble, 47 1/4 x 22 x 18 1/8 inches (120 x 56 x 46 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. Museum purchase with funds provided by the estate of Wallace Fowlie, 2011.15.1. © Ai Weiwei. Photo by Peter Paul Geoffrion.