Figure descending a staircase in a Duchamp painting

The answer to the crossword question “Figure descending a staircase in a Duchamp painting is NUDE” is likely the painting “Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2” by Marcel Duchamp. This work caused quite a stir when it was exhibited at the Armory Show in New York in 1913, due to its abstract depiction of movement and the controversial subject matter of a nude figure. The painting shows a series of overlapping images of a figure in motion, with its limbs and body represented as geometric shapes. Despite the controversy it initially caused, today “Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2” is considered a seminal work of modern art and is studied and admired by art historians and enthusiasts alike.