The True Value of a Picasso.
There’s a story I love.
Picasso was in a park when a woman approached and asked him to draw a portrait of her. He agrees and quickly sketches her. After handing the sketch over, she’s pleased with the likeness and asks how much she owes him.
Picasso replies: “$5,000”
The woman screams: “But it only took you five minutes!?”
To which Picasso answers: “No, madam, it took me all my life”
I love the assuredness of Picasso. He captures his work’s value in one simple statement.
But if Picasso had worked in advertising, he’d have been asked to write a rationale about why it was worth $5,000. He’d have a PowerPoint presentation of all his previous work to reinforce the fact that he was good at what he does and that it was an investment. He’d have spreadsheets showing how the five minutes it took him was broken down into a cost per second to make it sound more palatable…
So why do we work that way every day? Why don’t we trust what we do more? And why don’t we trust one another the way we should?
Everything we create is, in some shape or form, a product of a lifetime’s work. As long as you put everything you know into it, you should be confident in its value.
Picasso knew that.
Andy Stone
Creative UK
