In Tim Burton’s 2014 film Big Eyes, what was Margaret Keane’s distinctive subject in her paintings?

In Tim Burton’s 2014 film Big Eyes, Margaret Keane’s distinctive subject was children with oversized eyes.

Keane’s paintings became famous for portraying waiflike children whose eyes were dramatically larger than normal. The style became widely recognizable in the 1950s and 1960s, when reproductions and prints brought the images to a mass audience.

The film dramatizes the conflict between Margaret and her second husband, Walter Keane. Walter publicly claimed credit for the paintings, while Margaret continued producing them. The story therefore concerns both a popular art style and the question of authorship behind it.

Amy Adams plays Margaret Keane and Christoph Waltz plays Walter Keane. The movie’s title refers to the defining visual feature of the paintings, not to a separate artistic movement or a literal group of characters.