On view in October–November 2024.
Walt commissioned portraits of both of his daughters, Diane and Sharon, upon their sixteenth birthdays. Illustrator and portrait painter Neysa McMein composed this image of Diane Disney Miller, holding a copy of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. Walt was a devoted father, and he commissioned artists to portray his children at various times in life: Norman Rockwell’s charcoal illustrations of Diane and Sharon at ten and seven, respectively, are on view here in the Awards Lobby. Walt displayed these works prominently: Rockwell’s portraits hung on the wall in his studio office, where a small copy of this painting sat atop the piano. Over the last two decades of her life, Diane was dedicated to documenting and preserving her father's life and legacy, and co-founded The Walt Disney Family Museum with her son and current President of the Board, Walter E.D. Miller, in 2009.
McMein’s work became well known in part because it was featured on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post magazine, much like Rockwell. In all, she composed nearly sixty illustrations for the magazine’s cover between 1916 and 1939, and her success expanded to the covers of other popular magazines of the day, including Collier’s, Puck, and McCall’s. Many of these illustrations depicted women against neutral backgrounds, similar to this portrait. McMein worked from a photograph of Diane and wrote to Walt shortly after receiving it: “I am more than pleased with what has been said about the canvas, and you and Lilian [sic] won’t be surprised to hear that one and all consider Diana [sic] a raving beauty.”
To celebrate the release of our new book, Walt Disney Treasures: Personal Art and Artifacts from The Walt Disney Family Museum, we are displaying rare and unique objects from the collection that are also featured in the book. Some of the artifacts showcased in the book and here have never been seen by the public. These objects will be on view for free in the museum’s Awards Lobby and will rotate periodically through the beginning of 2025.