The Art Of Thomas Kinkade
THE ART OF THOMAS KINKADE (Genesis 1:31, 3:17)
Yeow Chin Kiong
If you scour the internet for articles on the American artist Thomas Kinkade (1958-2012), you will find more harsh criticism than praise for his works. If you search deeper for his artwork, you will find very many realistic depictions of a variety of unidentifiable landscapes. Prints of his drawings of nature sell well and find their way into Bibles, postcards, calendars and scenic jigsaw puzzles. To his detractors, however, the problem is his artwork is too optimistic and ignores altogether the pain and ugliness of nature "tooth and claw."
A best-selling American artist known as the "Painter of Light," Kinkade was an evangelical Bible-believer who used his skill to draw man's mind to the Bible's storyline, frequently quoting scripture in his artwork. Much of the criticism of his scenic paintings has to do with their theme which he describes thus, "Light is what we're attracted to ... I like to portray a world without the Fall." (quoted by Ryan Currie in "Are Christian Artists Free To Ignore The Fall?" In THE GOSPEL COALITION article dated 21 May 2026 @ thegospelcoalition.org).
Beautiful as frameable items as they are, Kinkade's drawings are often seen as being too sentimental and unrealistically optimistic, whitewashing the evil and suffering in the world. That he has profited immensely by selling prints of such "escapist" paintings make them morally unacceptable works of art to many.
To be fair to Kincade, he did mention that his focus was on what he imagined to be the world before the Fall brought about by the sin of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:1-24). All that can be known about conditions on earth before the Fall are limited to what God has revealed in the whole of Genesis 2:1-25, which was that all of God's handiwork before He ceased the work of creation on the seventh day was "very good." (Genesis 1:31). Kinkade evidently desired to portray this "very good" world and many Bible-believers responded positively to his works. When Divine punishment was meted out with the very ground on which they stood being cursed and the fruit of the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden denied to Adam and Eve and humankind after them, there began the aeons of humanity's continually-failing struggle against sin that will cease only at the end of time, after Jesus' coming again, the resurrection of the dead righteous and unrighteous from their grave, the transformation of the then-living, the final judgment and the consignment of souls either to heaven or hell for eternity. Meanwhile, all created existence will be burnt up before being replaced by "new heavens and a new earth" (2 Pster 3:10-13). The complaint is that Kinkade's drawings totally ignore post-Fall conditions of the human tragedy.
This side of the present earth's final day, our planet must reek of human sin and the potentially corrupting environment in which we find ourselves. During this time even the faithful must suffer and be upheld in hope as they groan (Romans 8:12-39). True hope cannot be established on the past of a world corrupted by sin but by the hope of the general resurrection of mankind or the transformation of those then alive, bound for a better and eternal existence (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). We are to be truly comforted with prophecies about the future and not imaginings about a past we have never experienced, no matter how vividly that past is portrayed artistically.
Truth be told, although Thomas Kinkade was as well-intentioned as he was well-skilled, we await for something better concerning which we are encouragingly promised, "Eye had not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." (1 Corinthians 2:9 alluding to Isaiah 64:4). And concerning the past, even from before the Fall, our Father through the scriptures has promised, "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind." (Isaiah 65:17).
Examples of the artwork,- as well as their main message,- of Thomas Kinkade can be found in a website maintained by his family, www.thomaskinkadetn.com For a critique of Thomas Kinkade's artwork, see Nicholas Barber "'Banal and hollow': Why the quaint paintings of Thomas Kinkade divided the US" article dated 28 March 2025 at www.bbc.com