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Picasso was on a long train ride, on one of those trains that has seats facing each other. Across from him sat a man who recognized him, but said nothing for a good 30 minutes, and then began mumbling to himself, “don’t like it. ….can’t understand it….shouldn’t be allowed…”

After a few of these comments, Picasso interrupted him and asked him, “What are you talking about?”

The man said, “Modern art. It’s too abstract. I don’t understand it, Galleries shouldn’t show it.”

“What should they show?” Picasso asked.

“Realism. They should show reality, the way the world really is.”

“Give me an example,” Picasso asked, and the man pulled out his wallet and showed a picture of his wife. “This is a picture of my wife. This is realism. This is how the real world is.”

Picasso looked at it, turning it over and said, “My, she’s awfully small, …and awfully flat.”