Dismissing art dealer Leo Castelli in the late 1950s, Willem de Kooning said, “You could give that son of a bitch two beer cans and he could sell them.”

“I heard this and thought, ‘What a sculpture — two beer cans,'” noted Jasper Johns. “It seemed to fit in perfectly with what I was doing, so I did them and Leo sold them.”

Robert and Ethel Scull bought Painted Bronze (Ale Cans) for $960.

(Fred Orton, Figuring Jasper Johns, 1994.)