At the age of 54 Thomas Kinkade is dead. He was a Famed painter .
Kinkade died at his home in Monte Sereno, an affluent enclave near Los Gatos in the San Francisco Bay Area. His family attributed his death to natural causes, and officials have not commented further on the case other than to say that the Santa Clara County coroner will perform the autopsy.
Millions of his paintings and prints hang in homes around the world, popularity that translated to more than $50 million in earnings for the artist from 1997 to 2005 alone. Lauded for his generosity, he once gave an Anaheim, Calif., widow $25,000 worth of his art to replace what she’d lost in a fire. He lived life to the fullest," said Ken Raasch, his former business partner who co-founded Kinkade’s company more than 20 years ago. "He was a very eclectic character, an amazing artist who was not a stereotypical man in any sense. He created his own mold, I’d say, and I think we were all blessed because of that."Kinkade’s fame and fortune, however, were complicated by personal and business struggles.
He was known for his paintings of bucolic pastoral scenes and charming cottages, candlelit images made into calendars and decorative plates that are said to fill one in 20 homes in California. Although the fine-art world often derided his work as tacky, mainstream Americans flocked to his paintings. Kinkade created several hundred Thomas Kinkade Signature Galleries to sell his work. In 2010, the recession took its toll and his Morgan Hill art company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, listing nearly $6.2 million in creditors' claims.
On Monday, the CEO of Kinkade's galleries said in a statement they were overwhelmed by the "outpouring of appreciation and interest in Thom's work.''
"He strived to make his paintings available and affordable to the public and his collectors,'' John Hasting, CEO of The Thomas Kinkade Co., said Monday. "In his honor, we will continue his legacy and do what we can to carry on. The man is already greatly missed by the Kinkade extended family, but we want everyone to know that the galleries will remain open and his images will continue to be marketed worldwide, just as he would have wanted it.''
