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The (probably apocryphal) Picasso napkin story:

Picasso is sitting in a Paris cafe when a fan approaches the artist and asks that he make a quick sketch on a paper napkin. Picasso acquiesces, draws his dove and promptly hands it back to his admirer along with an ask for a rather large sum of money. The fan is flummoxed. “How can you ask for so much? It took you only a minute to draw this.” To which Picasso replies, "No, it took me 40 years."

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> “How can you ask for so much? It took you only a minute to draw this.”

translation: I expected to pay $5 for this napkin drawing, and later sell it for $10,000. Then you asked me $1000 for the drawing. That means you just tried to steal $995 from me. Outrageous! You are a thief, Mr. Picasso!

When I first read the story many years ago, Picasso's ask was $10,000.

You know, inflation...

Likely apocryphal [1], possibly inspired by a true story from 1878 about a court case involving well-known painter James McNeill Whistler [2]:

> "Oh, two days! The labour of two days, then, is that for which you ask two hundred guineas!"

> "No;-I ask it for the knowledge of a lifetime."

[1] https://quoteinvestigator.com/2018/01/14/time-art/

[2] https://quoteinvestigator.com/2018/01/12/lifetime/

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