Millions of people on the internet were ripping a Monet painting for being AI-generated without realizing it was actually the real deal

The internet has become obsessed with spotting AI-generated images lately, but one viral social experiment using an allegedly AI-generated Monet painting proved that people might not be as good at it as they think.

A real Claude Monet painting ended up getting roasted online after users were told it had been created with AI.

Millions of people confidently picked apart the famous artwork, criticizing everything from the composition to the colors.

The only problem was that the painting has been hanging in museums for more than a century.

Millions of people thought a real Monet painting was AI-generated

The viral tech experiment reportedly started when an anonymous artist on X who goes by @SHL0MS posted a cropped image of the iconic Water Lilies series alongside the caption: “I just generated an image in the style of a Monet painting using AI.”

The post then asked people to explain ‘what makes this inferior to a real Monet painting’, and the internet immediately took the bait.

The image racked up millions of views as users began confidently explaining why the artwork supposedly looked fake.

i just generated an image in the style of a Monet painting using AI

please describe, in as much detail as possible, what makes this inferior to a real Monet painting pic.twitter.com/VDJovKOqlz

— 𒐪 (@SHL0MS) May 12, 2026

Some described the painting as an ‘incoherent muddle’, while others complained about the ‘lack of depth’ and strange color choices.

One user reportedly even wrote a breakdown hundreds of words long explaining why the image failed to capture the famous oil painter’s style.

But after the reveal, people realized they had actually been criticizing a genuine painting by the artist created around 1915.

The artwork was reportedly part of the iconic painter’s famous Water Lilies collection and currently hangs in a museum in Munich, Germany.

@SHL0MS had even added X’s ‘Made with AI’ label to make the experiment seem more believable.

The internet completely changed its opinion after the truth came out

Not everyone fell for the trick, though, and some users immediately recognized the style as authentic.

Oil painter Kendric Tonn reportedly defended the image in real time, saying: “It’s not a top-tier Monet, but it’s a very credible Monet.”

Art historian A.V. Marraccini was even more direct, writing: “This is a detail from an actual late Monet.”

The whole thing ended up becoming a huge example of how quickly internet opinion can shift once people think AI is involved.

According to a report, researchers have previously found that people often judge artwork differently the moment they believe it was made by AI, even if they originally liked it.

And honestly, it does raise a pretty funny question: if millions of people can accidentally roast a real painting like this, how long before someone calls the Mona Lisa ‘AI slop’ too?