200 Eyvind Earle Works, 35 For The First Time, To Be Displayed At Walt Disney Family Museum

The Walt Disney Family Museum will revisit the work of one of Disney animation’s foundational artists with Awaking Beauty: The Art of Eyvind Earle, launching October 23 in San Francisco.

A reimagined version of the museum’s 2017 Earle retrospective, the exhibitioon was co-curated by Eyvind Earle Publishing CEO Ioan Szasz and museum director of collections and exhibitions Marina Villar Delgado, the new presentation will feature roughly 200 works, including more than 35 loaned and recently acquired paintings never before displayed at the museum. Two new gallery spaces will also debut as part of the exhibition.

Earle is best known as the color stylist who established the overall visual language of Disney’s Sleeping Beauty (1959). Drawing on medieval tapestries, illuminated manuscripts, Northern European painting, and American landscapes, he gave the film its distinctive jewel-toned forests and densely patterned backgrounds. His Disney credits also included Lady and the Tramp, The Truth About Mother Goose, and Paul Bunyan.

The exhibition will place Earle’s studio work alongside paintings and serigraphs from his wider career as a fine artist and printmaker. It will also include audiovisual material such as a trailer for West Side Story and a Chevrolet commercial, illustrating how his work extended beyond animation. Earle’s influence appears in later Disney productions, including Pocahontas and Frozen, as well as Disneyland Paris’ Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Awaking Beauty runs through April 18, 2027. Museum members can preview the exhibition on October 22. Tickets are available on the museum’s website.