The Dark Heart of Thomas Kinkade
Everett’s Cottage, 1997
A New Day Dawning, 1997
Footprints in the Sand, 2007
San Francisco, Golden Gate Bridge, 1995
Mountain Paradise, Mountain Retreat II, 2006
Eventually, no longer content with the letter N’s he added to honor his wife Nanette, Thomas Kinkade began hiding human corpses or other suggestions of grim violence within his idyllic paintings. These “little frownies,” as he called them, were Thom’s dark gifts to the viewer, small but unsettling reminders of mortality. As he wrote in his 2004 autobiography, LIGHT MAKES RIGHT:
“I have long-since found that no amount of dappled sunlight or perfectly fallen New England snow can mask the stench of shit and Death that has enveloped this corrupt world. The rotting flesh beneath the skin of this ‘life’ has ruined me with its acrid fumes, and until Lord Jesus himself finally wrenches these hateful brushes from my stiffening claws, I intend to make goddamned sure everyone fills their fucking lungs.”