Best of 2025 :: Published/Unpublished Media artwork (Music, TV, Movie)

Disney's The Little Mermaid, Her Sisters, and a Great Ship (1941)

Owner: Dennis Books
Artist: Kay Nielsen (All)

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Artwork Details

Title:	Disney's The Little Mermaid, Her Sisters, and a Great Ship (1941)
Artist:	Kay Nielsen (All)
Media Type:	Pastels
Art Type:	Illustration
Views:	67
Likes on CAF:	2 3
Added to Site:	11/15/2025

Description

The Little Mermaid Early 12.75" x 10" Concept Pastel Drawing Original Art by Kay Nielsen . The fairy tales of Danish author Hans Christian Andersen greatly appealed to Walt Disney, and he started several Andersen projects for the studio, only to drop them one by one for various reasons (usually the rather somber endings of many of the stories). The Little Mermaid was one of them, and Kay Nielsen (1886 - 1957) was delighted to create some wonderful, moody concept pieces in pastels. This illustration of mermaids singing their "siren's song" to attract a ship is beautifully rendered in dark pastels on black paper, with an image size of approximately 12.75" x 10". Mr. Nielsen loved working at the studio and was excited about The Little Mermaid and several other projects, but the relative failure of Walt's art opus Fantasia which included work by Nielsen led to most of these projects - including The Little Mermaid - to be shut down, leaving the discouraged artist without a job. However, he would be back many years later to work on Sleeping Beauty, a project he would not live to see completed.
Disney Studios would return to The Little Mermaid many years after Walt had passed, in a version with a much lighter tone that gave Nielsen posthumous screen credit. The book They Drew as They Pleased: The Hidden Art of Disney's Musical Years - The 1940s, part one by Didier Ghez has several fine examples, but none match the grandeur of this dark masterpiece. Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, and Kay Nielsen are considered by most to be the greatest illustrators of the Golden Age of Illustration in the early 20th century. Nielsen being the favorite of many having the attributes of the prior two.

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About the Owner

	Dennis Books Premium Gallery Owner
Joined:	January 2006
Last Login:	January 2026
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