Art Notes

After watching The Lion King several times, pouring over hundreds of stills from the film and researching the back story, Thomas Kinkade Studios set out to follow Thom’s vision of the narrative panorama, telling the whole story in a single painting as he did. In bringing this second painting of The Lion King to life, we created a theatrical setting, much like a feature film, on just one stage.

Our vision was to have you view this story from the jungle mountains, with Pride Rock in the distant background. Simba appears in three stages of his life; as a cub playing with Nala, as a young adult finding love, and in the distance presenting his own son back on Pride Rock. We hope you enjoy Disney The Lion King – Return to Pride Rock as much as we did create it.

Key Points

• The eerie and disturbing elephant graveyard where Simba and Nala were rescued from the Hyenas is seen casting its shadow over the land.
• In the distance, the stampede that led to Simba’s exile is starting its descent down the ravine.
• Scar surveys the scene from high up upon the cliffside.
• Timon and Pumbaa are jolly and happy as they feast on their favorite delicacies.
• Thomas Kinkade almost always used flowers from the location he was painting, in this piece all the vegetation is native to Africa.