The Inspiration for Kubrick's The Shining?

Question

I read somewhere that the "look" of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining was inspired by a photographer or painter... I can't remember which.

My memory tells me her name was something like Arbos ... does anyone know??

Well, I think I found it !!

But lets see if anyone else knows who this was...

Yup. Thats what I discovered. Diane Arbus was the name that I had on the tip of my tongue. Good job! I also read somewhere that Stanley Kubrick was a student of hers, very interesting. I love her work, the twins photo is amazing and a definite inspiration for the film. Notice how one twin smiles a little, the other looks troubled, two different takes on the world from two who are seemingly alike. The more you stare at her photos the stranger things get. Just like Kubrick's films.

Answer 1

Now that you mention it, I do see some influence of the work of photographer Diane Arbus in The Shining; most particularly in the photography of the twin ghosts in the Overlook's hallway, as well as the interiors of the boy's home in the first part of the film.
There is an alienation/voyeurism in much of Arbus' later work, which Kubrick may have attempted to duplicate in some of the photography, but I wouldn't call it a major influence on the film's overall design.