Video: 'When John Lennon met Yoko Ono | National Museums Liverpool'

(Tuesday, November 8, 1966, early morning Greenwich Mean Time) — John Lennon of The Beatles walked into a small London art gallery early this morning expecting to see something avant-garde. Instead, he encountered an artist who would become one of the most consequential figures in his life.

Lennon met Yoko Ono at the Indica Gallery in Mason’s Yard while Ono was preparing her exhibition, “Unfinished Paintings and Objects.” The show, her first exhibition outside the United States and Japan, was scheduled to open later in the day and featured conceptual works that invited visitors to participate.

Lennon had been encouraged to visit by gallery co-owner John Dunbar, a friend of the Beatle and one of the figures behind the countercultural gallery. Ono was still installing her work when Lennon arrived.

Among the pieces that caught Lennon’s attention was “Ceiling Painting,” a seemingly blank canvas mounted on the ceiling. Visitors climbed a ladder and looked through a magnifying glass to discover a tiny word painted on the canvas: “YES.”

Video: 'John Lennon RARE interview how he met Yoko - YouTube.flv'

The positive message immediately appealed to Lennon.

“I was astounded,” Lennon later recalled of the exhibition. He said the word “yes” convinced him to remain in the gallery rather than dismissing the unusual works and leaving.

Dunbar then introduced Lennon to Ono. At the time, Ono did not realize that the visitor was one of The Beatles.

Another work, “Painting to Hammer a Nail In,” called on visitors to hammer a nail into a board. Lennon asked whether he could participate, but Ono initially refused because the exhibition had not yet opened. After Dunbar intervened, she agreed to let Lennon hammer a nail for five shillings.

Video: 'The Truth About John Lennon And Yoko Ono's Relationship'

Lennon, who did not have the money with him, offered a characteristically playful solution: He would give her five imaginary shillings and hammer an imaginary nail.

Lennon later said that exchange was the moment they truly connected.

“That’s when we really met,” he recalled decades later. “That’s when we locked eyes and she got it and I got it.”

Ono likewise remembered recognizing something familiar in Lennon’s approach to her work. She later said she realized that he was playing the same conceptual game she was.

The encounter would eventually transform both their personal and professional lives. Lennon and Ono began a romantic relationship in 1968 and married in 1969, becoming one of the most famous couples in popular culture.