Is it Art?

The art critic pursed his lips. He enjoyed his private viewing of any new painting, time to analyse work in a new exhibition. Such a pleasure.

This particular canvas was a newly-discovered work by the much-beloved Picasso. A Metropolitan art expert confirmed it genuine, its provenance undisputed, the piece obliquely referred to in correspondence, the significance unrecognised until the work came to market; worth millions.

A fine portrait of a cobalt face in a woollen hat flopping forward, defiantly cubist, harking back to his Blue Period.

He just wished the catalogue hadn't described it as Picasso's "Smurf Period".