A small art gallery in Japan just happened to have these pictures next to each other. And then it morphed into a popular meme template

Are you saying this was intentional, that someone did this with some kind of ulterior motive, and OP is sadly mistaken? Preposterous!

Sir, this is a Shitpost

They're not saying that. Check the community and try to have some fun

This interpretation of the meme doesn't exactly predate genAI, but it does predate genAI becoming good enough to do this. We did have some weird stuff that google was messing with back then that was vaguely similar, but I don't think we even called it AI at the time. It mostly made things that looked like LSD hallucinations.

I bought a copy on etsy for someone shortly after pandemic lockdown back in 2020. It's been awhile, but seem to remember the artist having several more meme interpretations in a similar style. Is still almost definitely just from someones house.

1. The photo isn't from an art gallery but just somebody's house

Maybe you should do a little fact checking: nobody can afford their own house anymore. You're whole explanation falls apart and OP's seem much more plausible again

Because then she wouldn't be pointing at the cat.

Shhh. Don't tell them. You'll ruin the fun!

I had the same thought

i want those pillows and bedspread as a t-shirt

                     \|/  
                    @   @  
+---------------- oO-(_)-Oo --------------------+  
|          old memes                            |
|               never die                       |
+-----------------------------------------------+