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THE PICTURES YOU SEE ON THESE four pages prove that good art can be found in unexpected places.

Rich in color, detail and imagery, they’re scenes “frozen” from the latest Walt Disney animated film, Sleeping Beauty.

From the lively antics of Mickey Mouse to the nimble agility of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney movies have always leaned heavily on action for their appeal. But in this 75-minute-long, $6,000,000 epic it’s not cartoonery but scenery that will delight audiences.

Sleeping Beauty’s Technicolor world is filled with panoramic scenes often reminiscent of classic art. Sometimes – as in the view of the castle above and on PAGEANT's back cover – the style suggests the precision of the Flemish school, sometimes the bold flamboyance of the Impressionists.

Many of the original drawings for the film may hang next to Old Masters this season, for several U.S. museums plan to display Sleeping Beauty art as an example of the best in animated illustration.

Six Years for a Kiss

To retell the classic legend of a princess awakened from a witch’s spell by a princely kiss, perfectionist Disney had a staff of 300 artists laboring at their drawing boards for six years.

All told, they turned out the staggering sum of one million drawings, sketches and designs before the film was finished.

Since the picture is being shown in Technirama-70-a wide-screen color process adapted to 70 mm. film for the first time – Disney artists had to evolve new and stronger pigments for their colors. Their favorite achievement: a new “ominous purple” for the witch’s wardrobe.