Art References in the Paintings of Disney's Riviera Resort
Disney World’s newest resort hotel, the Riviera, is a tribute to the French and Mediterranean Riviera. It’s decorated with paintings that feature Disney characters and settings in the styles of various artists! As a Disney nerd and a huge art history fan, I HAD to hunt down all the painting references possible. I know this is a bit different than my usual history content, but I hope you please enjoy this interlude into art anyway. :)
Note: It seems like almost all of the painting references are by French artists or artists who spent a lot of time in France.
(There are several other paintings on display at the Riviera that I may add in later.)
This painting features the goose sisters Abigail and Amelia Gabble from The Aristocats (1970) with their Uncle Waldo outside the Le Petite Cafe in the style of Vincent Van Gogh. Cafe Terrace at Night is the most obvious reference, but I see elements of Starry Night in the moon in the Disney painting as well. Van Gogh was Dutch, but spent several years living in France.
This painting features Mary Darling with her children Wendy, Peter, John, and dog Nana from Peter Pan (1953). The setting, color palette, and subject matter seems to refer to Mary Cassatt’s various paintings of mothers with children.
The characters are all wearing the outfits they wore in the film itself - the children in their nightgowns and pajamas and Mary Darling dressed up for a party. The book is a great call back to the Peter Pan stories that Wendy is telling her brothers at the start of the film. Although the style isn’t an exact match, everything else about it is similar enough that I think it has to be a Cassatt reference.
The upper right Cassatt painting is Mother and Sara Admiring the Baby from 1901 and the lower right painting is The Reading Lesson (1901).
There’s a painting of Merida and her mother from Pixar’s Brave (2012) that seem to be rather Cassatt-ish as well, although I’m not as certain on this one. I’m nearly positive this is flashback Merida as a little kid rather than the age she is most of the film.
Mary Cassatt was American but spent most of her adult life living in France.
This painting, which features Cogsworth, Lumiere, Chip, and Mrs. Potts from Beauty and the Beast (1991) is a clear homage to Pablo Picasso’s cubist style. Still Life with Candlestick (1944, bottom left) seems to have most inspired the Riviera piece - the two have a similar layout, line structure, colors, and even both feature a cold mirror in the background. There seem to be similarities in Jug, candle and pot enamelled (1945, bottom right) as well.
The line drawings of Minnie and Mickey look to be directly inspired by Picasso’s minimalist animal line drawings. I don’t think he gave most of these drawings names.
Pablo Picasso was a Spanish painter who spent most of his adult life in France.
This painting, featuring Marie, Toulouse, and Berlioz from The Aristocats (1940), is by far my favorite of the paintings I’ve seen out of the Riviera. It also was one of the most difficult for me to find a reference for. When I finally did find it though, I actually gasped out loud.
That very specific positioning of the table, the swirls of the metal balcony, the building in the background, and even the very specific mint green color of the ball of string all seem to be a clear reference to French painter Henri Matisse’s Interior with a Goldfish Bowl (1914). The Riviera version however, features the actual design of the Riviera window balconies and a view of the hotel beyond.
It’s funny, when you look for this painting, you actually find a version of it that adds a cat in. Perhaps whatever Disney artist made this painting googled Henri Matisse and cat, found the parody, and was inspired to produce this homage.
These two large colorful paintings (at top) which live in the Riviera lobby seem to be homages to some of Matisse’s later works. The bottom two Matisse cutout works are both from 1953 and are respectively known as The Sheaf and Decoration with Masks.
This painting of Minnie and Mickey is a very direct parody of a Moulin Rouge poster painted by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Minnie takes the place of the dancing girl, Mickey takes the place of the silhouetted man at the forefrong of the poster, and he profiles of the men have been replaced with profiles of various cartoon characters. The words and typography of the words are almost exactly the same, except for a few areas where Mademoiselle Mouse replaces “Moulin Rouge” and the removal of “La Goulue.” This actually makes a lot of sense, as “La Goulue,” meaning the gormand, was actually the stage name of Louise Weber, the French can-can dancer featured in this painting.
The Moulin Rouge, of course, is a famous historical cabaret in Paris, France, near Montmartre. Toulose-Lautrec is French.
This painting features Remy from Ratatouille (2007) inserted into a classic still life of fruit. Lots of French painters have paintings like this, but the ones that look most likely to have inspired this one are Basket of Apples (1895) by Paul Cezanne (middle) and Bowl of Fruit and Tankard Before a Window (~1890) by Paul Gauguin.
I’m pretty sure this Riviera painting on the left is inspired by a 1953 poster by French graphic designer Jacques Nathan-Garamond promoting Côte D’Azur (which literally means Azure Coast and refers to the French Riviera), along with the real super colorful houses in Menton, France. The Disney touch is added via the Disney Cruise line ship in the background of the painting.
This poster featuring characters from The Princess and The Frog appears to directly reference another Cote D’Azur travel poster by French painter Jean-Gabriel Domergue.
The wording “Au bout du rêve toujours de l'avant” actually are directly quoted lyrics from The Princess and the Frog’s French version of “Almost There”. I don’t speak French at all, but I found a translation of it online that interpreted this as meaning “I will fulfill my dream” and “Always forward.”
These two paintings, featuring Wall-E and Eve and the starship Axiom, all from Pixar’s Wall-E (2008), both directly reference Vincent Van Gogh’s Wheat Field with Cypresses (1889).
There are also a few paintings that are interpretations of castles in Disney films without any particular clear artistic inspiration. This painting (left) is of Cinderella’s castle from the 1950 cartoon. The castle in the film is at the upper right, and Neuschwanstein castle, the real life Bavarian castle that inspired it (and also the one in Sleeping Beauty) is at the upper left.
This painting (upper left) is an interpretation of Eric’s castle from The Little Mermaid (1989). Lower left shows the castle as it was in the film, with the real life inspiration to the right (Château de Chillon, on Lake Geneva in Switzerland).
Related Blog Posts:
Disney Crowns and Tiaras: Historical and Modern Inspirations (Part I) - Snow White, Alice in Wonderland (cartoon and live), Sleeping Beauty/Maleficent, Robin Hood, and the Great Mouse Detective
Disney Crowns and Tiaras: Historical and Modern Inspirations (Part II): Cinderella, Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Frog, and The Sword in the Stone!
The Classic Disney Influences in the Costumes of "The Descendants”