The Magic of Metaphor
Picasso
Picasso was on the point of becoming famous. He was travelling first
class from Nice to Paris. Sharing his compartment was a wealthy American art
collector.
The American thought he recognised the artist. "Hey, aren´t you Mr
Pablo Picasso?"
"Si," said Picasso.
"Listen," said the collector, "Why don't you paint people
as they really are?"
"Que?" said Picasso.
"Why don't you paint people as they really are? I mean, if I look
at one of your paintings it just ain't real. You got an eye in the middle of
the forehead, a nose where an ear should be. It,s just ridiculous. It's all
wrong. It's not real and it's not art!"
"I don't know what you mean," said the artist.
"Art should reflect life. Hold a mirror up to nature and all that. You
gotta paint people as they really are."
"I still don't understand," said Picasso.
"OK wise guy, I'll show you what I mean." The American took
his wallet from his jacket, opened it, and took out a photograph.
"Look," said the American. "This is my wife, that's how
she really is."
"Oh, now I understand," Picasso said in a serious manner.
,,your wife is extremely thin and about 10 centimetres tall."
Primary source: Anecdotal.
Secondary source: There is a version in Joseph O'Connor & John Seymour,
Introducing NLP. See bibliography.
No comments:
Post a Comment