Inspiring Walt Disney: a ‘scholarly’ show that raises the stakes for curators everywhere

Exhibition pairs drawings from Disney’s animations with rococo works from the Wallace Collection

Rapunzel from Tangled side by side with Fragonard’s The Swing
Rapunzel from Disney’s Tangled (2010) and Fragonard’s The Swing
(Image credit: Disney/The Wallace Collection)

In 1918, a 16-year-old Walt Disney made the first of many visits to France, said Rachel Campbell-Johnston in The Times. The trip would have a pivotal effect on his career: he had come to work as a Red Cross driver, but left as a devotee of the country’s decorative arts. He found a “huge influence” in the creations of the rococo movement, an exceptionally theatrical and ornamental late Baroque style, to which some of his studio’s best-loved films owe an immense debt.

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