A Different Look At The Founding of Iowa

I had some fun today, and asked ai to make illustrations of Iowa's founding by three visionary artists--Joan Miro, Salvador Dali, and Pablo Picasso.

Joan Miró’s Iowa mural looks like history after chugging three Super Big Gulps and no sleep. Indians, pioneers, forts, riverboats — all bouncing around in bright colors and weird floating shapes. The Mississippi River twists through the whole thing like a giant blue snake that escaped from a Looney-Tunes cartoon.

Nothing makes sense. That’s the fun of it. Miró painted feelings more than reality, so Iowa history turns into this wild, happy dream filled with stars, squiggles, moons, and shapes.

Salvador Dalí’s version looks like the frontier wandered into somebody’s fever dream. Wagons melt. Faces droop. The river stretches forever while creepy skies hang over everything. Even the clocks look exhausted.

The painting feels strange, dramatic, and a little unhinged. Dalí loved taking normal scenes and twisting them into something bizarre. His Iowa looks like Lewis and Clark got lost inside a nightmare and marched west, anyway.

Picasso’s Iowa mural looks like somebody dropped the frontier on the floor and glued the pieces back together in the wrong order. Crooked faces. Triangular horses. Forts and riverboats become giant blocks smashing into each other.

It’s loud, messy, and brilliant. Picasso didn’t care about how things looked. He wanted movement and energy. His Iowa feels rough, crowded, and alive — like the frontier got squeezed into an exploding puzzle.

Author's note: Once again, I need to say these drawings are in the artist's style. They did not make them, so don't go looking for them in the Louvre or any major museum. They're figments of my imagination, powered by ai.