athena art foundation — Inspiring Walt Disney: The Animation of French Decorative Arts

Inspiring Walt Disney: The Animation of French Decorative Arts explores the work of Walt Disney and the hand-drawn animation of Walt Disney Animation Studios, examining Disney’s personal fascination with European art and the use of French motifs in his films and theme parks. Drawing new parallels between the studios’ magical creations and their artistic models, the exhibition.highlights references to European visual culture in Disney animated films, including nods to Gothic Revival architecture in Cinderella (1950), medieval influences on Sleeping Beauty (1959), and Rococo-inspired objects brought to life in Beauty and the Beast (1991). Sixty works of 18th-century European decorative arts and design—from tapestries and furniture to Boulle clocks and Sèvres porcelain—will be featured alongside 150 production artworks and works on paper from the Walt Disney Animation Research Library, Walt Disney Archives, Walt Disney Imagineering Collection, and The Walt Disney Family Museum. Selected film footage illustrating the extraordinary technological and artistic developments of the studio during Disney’s lifetime and beyond will also be shown.

The exhibition also marks the 30th anniversary of the animated theatrical release of Beauty and the Beast.