During a later visit to a Picasso exhibit in Milan, I came across a famous informational diagram by the art historian Alfred Barr, mapping how modernist movements like Cubism evolved from earlier artistic traditions. Picasso is often held up as one of modern art's most original and influential figures, but Barr's chart made plain the many artists he drew from--Goya, El Greco, Cézanne, African sculptors. This made me wonder: If a generative AI model had been fed all those inputs, might it have produced Cubism? Could it have generated the next great artistic "breakthrough"? These experiences--spread across three cities and centered on three iconic artists--coalesced into a broader reflection I'd already begun.