The Drunken Downfall of Evangelical America’s Favorite Painter
In The Daily Beast, Zac Bissonnette examines the death and posthumous popularity of Thomas Kinkade, the evangelical painter who was America’s most popular living artist. While his paintings reflected “bucolic garden scenes and cozy cottages,” Kinkade’s private life included a long history of substance abuse, and he eventually died in 2012 at age 54 of an alcohol and Valium overdose. Despite his now-public personal struggles, however, the Kinkade business empire has continued to grow since his death, and it now registers $425 million in annual sales.