Photos/Video: Tour the New "Awaking Beauty: The Art of Eyvind Earle" Exhibition at the Walt Disney Family Museum
Awaking Beauty: The Art of Eyvind Earle is a new exhibit coming to the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco. The original exhibition is co-curated by CEO of Eyvind Earle Publishing, Ion Szasz, and museum Director of Collections and Exhibitions Marina Villar Delgado.
We were able to take a look around the new exhibition before it opens to the public on Friday, October 23, and explores the life and work of the prolific artist and Disney Legend.
Earle is perhaps best known as the color stylist for the classic animated feature, Sleeping Beauty (1959), with his work also being used to help shape other films like Lady and the Tramp (1955) and others.
This isn't the first time the Walt Disney Family Museum has focused on Earle. Back in 2017, the museum hosted an original retrospective. Now, Awaking Beauty: The Art of Eyvind Earle has now been thoughtfully reenvisioned with roughly 200 works on view in the Exhibition Gallery, which includes two new gallery spaces debuting for this special exhibition.
Drawing inspiration from medieval tapestries, illuminated manuscripts, Pre-Renaissance Northern European paintings, and the American landscape, Earle created visual worlds of breathtaking detail and stylized grandeur. His richly patterned and romantic backgrounds—some taking nearly ten times longer to complete than a typical Disney background—gave his animated films a jewel-toned "moving illustration" quality.
Earle’s distinctive interpretation of iconic American landscapes as a fine artist and printmaker continues to influence generations of artists and designers, notably on Walt Disney Animation Studio’s Pocahontas (1995) and Frozen (2013), and the design of Sleeping Beauty Castle (AKA Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant) in Disneyland Paris. For his work on Sleeping Beauty and his contributions to animation, The Walt Disney Company posthumously awarded Earle the prestigious Disney Legend Award in 2015.
Audiovisual elements throughout the special exhibition offer a closer look at some of Earle’s work beyond the gallery. Interactive activities also complement the exhibition space, creating an engaging, hands-on experience for visitors of all ages.
Retail opportunities the celebrate the exhibition are also available at the Walt Disney Family Museum, with prints and even a book commemorating the exhibition.
Awaking Beauty: The Art of Eyvind Earle will be on view to museum members from today, October 22, 2026, and open to the public from Friday, October 23, 2026 through Sunday, April 18, 2027.
You can also take a tour of the exhibition in our video below.