Falling for Disney’s spell
Once upon a time, there was a guy named Walt who enchanted the whole world with a bunch of drawings. A lot of us have grown watching Disney movies and we have to admit that they hold a special place in our hearts. I will always sing over a Disney song, I still know all the lyrics and I’m fine with it.
… Or am I? And are you? It is true that there are a lot of issues that can be raised concerning Disney studios and its production. It is also true that sometimes we feel a little bit guilty about watching a children’s cartoon for the hundredth time when we could have spent this hour and a half watching a more intellectual movie or studying for instance. So, here comes a major argument if you ever feel like you need a justification: Disney movies are filled with artistic references. And pretty complex ones of that.
Walt Disney himself was an art lover and had a very good knowledge of art history which allowed him to draw inspiration from various sources when creating his universe. The first time he went to Europe was just after World War I, to France, as a Red Cross ambulance driver and it was an important step in getting acquainted with European art. In 1935, he did a tour in Europe during which he gathered over 300 illustrated books, thus creating an impressive corpus of European children’s literature. It was a start to building the studios’ aesthetical features. And only two years later, the studios’ first and incredibly successful feature-length movie was on the screens: Snow-White shook the cinematic world. Over the years, Disney displayed important technical revolutions which have left a mark on the world of animation. Their endeavours were successful since the Disney Empire is probably the wealthiest and biggest studio in the world today.
What we may be less acquainted than the film’s success is the fact that the Evil Queen in Snow-White is really a reinterpretation of a very specific column statue from the Cathedral of Naumbourg in Germany, representing the countess Uta of Ballenstdt who founded the edifice with her husband, Ekkehard II. She is representative of the gothic style in the middle of the 13th century. The resemblance is pretty obvious when putting the statue next to the drawing of the Evil Queen. Column statues developed in the medieval age, around the 12th century in France during the early Gothic era. They were backed to columns, often placed above the gates of cathedrals. Their elongated cannon and their rather hieratic attitude inspired the drawings of several other of Disney’s evil sorceresses.
Talking about medieval style, it was a major source of inspiration for the early movies. If you take Sleeping Beauty for instance, the designs were inspired by the chivalrous culture which flooded the pictural arts. The overall aesthetic comes from Paolo Ucello’s paintings of battles. He is an Italian painter and his representations of battles inspired the variety of colours and the alignment of figures to depict crowds (with a somewhat incoherent perspective) found in the movie. When it comes to the castle, they looked at tapestries of the time but also illuminations. It is a combination of the actual castle of Neuschwanstein commissioned by Louis II of Bavaria and the illuminations from the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (a book of prayers richly illustrated and known for its representations of famous castles of the time). The castle has both roman and gothic features which, in the collective imaginary, evoke fairy-tales landscapes.
Of course, the animation artists do not stop at the medieval era. At the Met Museum in New York an exhibition called “Inspiring Walt Disney: The Animation of French Decorative Arts” was visible for the last few months. It focuses on the influence of French rococo on films such as The Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella. The rococo is a movement that appeared in the 1720s in France and it spread to all artistic fields. One that was very prolific was the field of decorative arts. Quantities of high-quality objects were produced. It is the period during which prestigious manufacturers emerged (to name but one: the Sevres Manufacture which still exists today). One of the characteristics of the rococo was to attempt to animate the inanimate. The abundance of details gives dynamism to the pieces. The fine observation of this aspect led the animators to the creation of Lumière, Mrs. Potts and Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast. Sketches for Mrs. Potts are put in parallel with porcelain teapots from the French 18th century which already have anthropomorphic features and which the animators turned into something more “cartoony”. Concerning Lumière, his silhouette comes from rococo candlesticks like the one presented in the museum rooms made by Meissonnier. The evocation of vegetal and aquatic elements creates a swirling movement to the object which thus seems to animate. It is this dynamism characteristic of the rococo period that has been reproduced.
Talking about medieval style, it was a major source of inspiration for the early movies. If you take Sleeping Beauty for instance, the designs were inspired by the chivalrous culture which flooded the pictural arts. The overall aesthetic comes from Paolo Ucello’s paintings of battles. He is an Italian painter and his representations of battles inspired the variety of colours and the alignment of figures to depict crowds (with a somewhat incoherent perspective) found in the movie. When it comes to the castle, they looked at tapestries of the time but also illuminations. It is a combination of the actual castle of Neuschwanstein commissioned by Louis II of Bavaria and the illuminations from the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (a book of prayers richly illustrated and known for its representations of famous castles of the time). The castle has both roman and gothic features which, in the collective imaginary, evoke fairy-tales landscapes.
Of course, the animation artists do not stop at the medieval era. At the Met Museum in New York an exhibition called “Inspiring Walt Disney: The Animation of French Decorative Arts” was visible for the last few months. It focuses on the influence of French rococo on films such as The Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella. The rococo is a movement that appeared in the 1720s in France and it spread to all artistic fields. One that was very prolific was the field of decorative arts. Quantities of high-quality objects were produced. It is the period during which prestigious manufacturers emerged (to name but one: the Sevres Manufacture which still exists today). One of the characteristics of the rococo was to attempt to animate the inanimate. The abundance of details gives dynamism to the pieces. The fine observation of this aspect led the animators to the creation of Lumière, Mrs. Potts and Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast. Sketches for Mrs. Potts are put in parallel with porcelain teapots from the French 18th century which already have anthropomorphic features and which the animators turned into something more “cartoony”. Concerning Lumière, his silhouette comes from rococo candlesticks like the one presented in the museum rooms made by Meissonnier. The evocation of vegetal and aquatic elements creates a swirling movement to the object which thus seems to animate. It is this dynamism characteristic of the rococo period that has been reproduced.
Now, I could go on and on with this and we probably could analyse each Disney movie one by one. For instance, Mulan’s simple lines took inspiration from Chinese paintings and calligraphy made by the cast of the literates. And Hercules’ sharp silhouettes come from ancient Greece’s pottery. Beware nonetheless of the historical concordance of these inspirations. The period in which the story is set does not always correspond to the artistic period used as a model. And sometimes, several periods are mingled. For instance, Cinderella is set in the 19th century but still draws some visual references to the rococo which happened a century before. It is especially striking with the castles which always display medieval features to fit with the fairy-tale imaginary. It can be justified by the fact that Disney animators create their own language instead of copying what has been made before. The Met exhibition put this aspect of their creation forward with lots of sketches made for different movies. And they take their inspiration from everywhere! Did you know that Atlantis is a revisit of the temple of Angkor Vat in Cambodia and that the Machu Picchu inspired the setting of Kuzco’s Empire in the eponymous movie ? Told you I could go on forever.
Finally, if Disney movies take inspiration from different artistic movements, they also hide direct artistic references inside the animation. Do you too try to find references to other movies when you watch Disney? Well, now you can start looking for famous works of art! Indeed, there are actual references to art history such as the Venus de Milo in Hercules where the hero breaks her arms by skipping stones. The famous ancient Greek statue is now exhibited at the Louvre, armless of course. We can also find the Girl with a Pearl Earring by Vermeer in the hallway of The Beauty and the Beast. Sometimes, those artworks are slightly adapted to the Disney universe to avoid showing what is considered inappropriate images for children. It happens with the reproduction of The Swing in Frozen when Anna is singing around the rooms of the castle while time is passing. She jumps on a couch and passes by the painting, mimicking the posture of the lady in the centre. However, a figure from the original is missing. The painting was made by Jean-Honoré Fragonard in 1767-1768 and it presents three characters: the young lady on the Swing whose pink dress is flying around her, revealing her petticoats to the young man hiding in the bushes beneath her – the second figure – and whose presence is unnoticed by the older man managing the swing – the third figure. It is an erotic subject, typical of the rococo movement, referring to a love triangle. Disney erased this aspect to leave only the young girl and her young lover pushing her on the swing. Still, it’s a reference.
So, Disney movies are not that childish after all. It goes to the point that they become pieces of art themselves and museums like the Grand Palais in Paris or the Met in New York have organised exhibitions to trace Disney’s inspiration in art history. The art created by the studios also inspires a lot of contemporary artists. The legacy is perpetrated.
A fun fact about the writing of this article to convince you once and for all that you do not waste your time with Disney movies: as an art student, I actually studied for my final exams while making my research. Which one are you going to rewatch first then?
Designed by: Nina Gueorguieva
Here are several very interesting articles that helped write this article, if you want more details :
Art References in Disney Movies | DailyArt Magazine | Art History Stories
Il était une fois Walt Disney | RMN – Grand Palais
(270) DE L’ART DANS NOS DESSINS ANIMÉS WALT DISNEY ? – YouTube
About the Met exhibition :
Comment les films de Disney ont puisé leur inspiration dans l’art français (konbini.com)
Centuries-old art that inspired Disney arrives at the Met (nypost.com)
Walt Disney’s Secret Inspiration? French Decorative Arts | Architectural Digest
The European art and architecture that inspired iconic Disney films – CNN Style