Why This Sleeping Beauty Is More Disturbing Than Disney's: John Collier (1921)
Disney taught us a kiss and a song. John Collier's The Sleeping Beauty (1921) offers neither. A princess lies in a room that feels sealed by time: roses climb the bedposts, dust seems almost visible in the air, and the stillness is not peace so much as arrest. This is fairy tale as problem picture - a late Pre-Raphaelite mood piece that asks what it costs to wait forever for a rescue that may never feel like waking. Quick facts Artist: The Hon. John Collier (1850-1934) Date: 1921 Medium: Oil on canvas (44 x 56 in / 111.7 x 142.2 cm) Collection: Private collection Notable fact: Shown at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, in 1921; sold at Christie's, London, in 2008 for pounds 433,250 John Collier, The Sleeping Beauty , 1921. Oil on canvas. Private collection. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Not Disney's Castle Perrault and the Brothers Grimm already mixed wonder with threat. Collier keeps the threat and drains the cartoon brightness. The sleeping fig...