The name of the piece, L.H.O.O.Q. (in French elle a chaud au cul, which is pronounced "èl a cho o ku"), is a pun, since the letters when pronounced in French form the sentence "Elle a chaud au cul", literally "She is hot in the arse".[1] This phrase bears resemblance to "avoir chaud au cul", a vulgar expression directed at women implying sexual restlessness. This interpretation is supported by Duchamp in a late interview (Schwarz 203), where he gives a loose translation of L.H.O.O.Q. as "there is fire down below".
As was the case with a number of his readymades, Duchamp made multiple versions of L.H.O.O.Q. of differing sizes and in different media throughout his career, one of which, an unmodified black and white reproduction of the Mona Lisa mounted on card, is called L.H.O.O.Q. Shaved. The masculinized female introduces the theme of gender reversal, which was popular with Duchamp, who adopted his own female pseudonym, Rrose Sélavy, pronounced "Eros, c'est la vie" ("Eros, that's life").[2]
Primary responses to L.H.O.O.Q. interpreted its meaning as being an attack on the iconic Mona Lisa and traditional art, thus promoting the Dadaist ideals.[citation needed]
According to Rhonda R. Shearer, the apparent reproduction is in fact a copy partly modelled on Duchamp's own face.