Art Notes

Walt Disney so famously reflected on his career and legacy “it was all started by a mouse”, which indeed it did. From those simple beginnings in the classic cartoon Steamboat Willie, the “mouse” has grown to an iconic stature on the worldwide stage and clearly reached a very celebrated peak in the animated masterpiece Fantasia as the sorcerer’s apprentice. Never before and truly never since has there been a more ambitious and successful fusion of high art, classical music and popular culture in film. Fantasia was a revolutionary film leaving an emotional, intellectual and spiritual impact on its viewer. It is from this lofty platform of visionary brilliance and excellence in artistic execution that the Thomas Kinkade Studios began its rendering of Fantasia. Joining the flowers and fairies are many delightful characters from various segments of this Disney classic. Mickey stands in the center of it all orchestrating the sublime dance going on about him. One can almost hear the strings, brass and timber of Leopold Stokowski’s Philadelphia Orchestra spring to life while viewing this masterwork of color, light and animated composition. Indeed, it may have all started with a mouse but in Fantasia it has never been more clear that this simple fellow of humble beginnings has become so much more. Fantasia as a film is transcendent, fully taking the mouse to the level of high culture. We at Thomas Kinkade Studios hope you will all agree that our interpretation of Fantasia is yet another extension of the film’s tradition of exploring beauty through the purity of joyous artistic expression.