A Terrible Blow to the Art World

[Savonarola]

He was America's Cezanne

'Painter of Light' artist Thomas Kinkade dies at age 54


Bennett Raglin / WireImage


Artist Thomas Kinkade paints the 2007 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Nov. 30, 2007, in New York City.

By NBCBayArea.com and msnbc.com staff

One of most popular artists in America, "Painter of Light" Thomas Kinkade, died Friday at his home in Los Gatos, Calif., his family said.

He was 54, and his family issued a statement that his death appeared to be from natural causes.

"Thomas Kinkade, the celebrated 'Painter of Light' is one of the most widely collected and beloved artists of our day," Kinkade's website states. "Each year millions of people are drawn to the luminous light and tranquil mood of Kinkade's paintings and include his creations in their lives through prints, books, and other fine collectibles."

The University of California Berkeley graduate had a strong faith in God, which served as the foundation for his artwork.

"I try to create paintings that are a window for the imagination," Kinkade said on his website. "If people look at my work and are reminded of the way things once were or perhaps the way they could be, then I've done my job."

Kinkade's Media Arts Group took in $32 million per quarter from 4,500 dealers across the country 10 years ago, before going private in the middle of last decade, the Mercury News reported. Paintings are priced hundreds of dollars to more than $10,000.

His website also offers prints, mugs, nightlights and other home-decor items adorned with his paintings, which feature bridges, churches, cottages, Disney scenes, gazebos estates and the outdoors.

On Friday, the Mercury News reported that Kinkade's family was traveling to Australia and unavailable for further comment.

Kinkade was arrested in 2010 on suspicion of drunken driving in Carmel, Calif., the Monterey Herald reported at the time.

In 2010, his production arm, Pacific Metro of Morgan Hill, Calif., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection a day after a $1-million payment was due to former Kinkade gallery owners who had tried for four years to collect on a judgment they won after claiming Kinkade used his Christian faith as a tool to fraudulently induce them to invest in his galleries, the Los Angeles Times reported at the time. From 1997 through May 2005, as galleries failed, Kinkade reaped more than $50 million from his prints and licensed product lines, according to testimony in the case cited by the Times.

In 2006, the Times reported that former Kinkade dealers told the newspaper that the FBI was looking into allegations that Kinkade and his top executives fraudulently induced investors to open galleries and then ruined them financially. The company, in a Sept. 1, 2006, statement called the allegations a "smear campaign."

You can kill the man, but you can't kill the dream:







The dream of overly large well lit houses in safe neighborhoods and trips to Disney World apparently. 

[Ed Anger]

Now those expensive Kinkade Christmas Cards I've thrown in my trunk instead of sending them out will go up in value.

[jimmy olsen]

Sav you're back!

[Caliga]

My mother in law was a huge fan.... she has like four prints hanging in her house.  Personally I really dislike his paintings for some reason.

[Sheilbh]

Personally I really dislike his paintings for some reason.

Because they're hideous?

[The Brain]

Savronela.

[HisMajestyBOB]

If only he had been rejected from art school. He could have gone into politics instead.

[The Brain]

If only he had been rejected from art school. He could have gone into politics instead.

[Richard Hakluyt]

A sad day for aesthetes everywhere 

[grumbler]

Personally I really dislike his paintings for some reason.

Because they're hideous?

There does seem to be that possibility, doesn't there?

[Caliga]

Well there are obviously some that disagree with us.

[grumbler]

Well there are obviously some that disagree with us.

Never interrupt your opponent while he is making a mistake.
             - Napoleon I

[Razgovory]

Well there are obviously some that disagree with us.

Never interrupt your opponent while he is making a mistake.
             - Napoleon I

They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!
             - Napoleon XIV

[sbr]

Well there are obviously some that disagree with us.

Never interrupt your opponent while he is making a mistake.
             - Napoleon I

They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!
             - Napoleon XIV

You guys are retarded!
           -Napoleon Dynamite

[Admiral Yi]

I can't remember any dialogue from The Man From U.N.C.L.E.