From the "Posadas" sequence in The Three Caballeros (1945)

While the Blairs were always trying to balance between the "fine art" and the "commercial," they realized that they had to put food on the table. But, Mary tired of working as a cell painter and left the studio. Lee went to work as an animator's assistant at Harman-Ising and then served as a color director. When Lee was hired by Disney in 1938, Mary took Lee's job as color director at Harmon-Ising. Lee then got Mary a job at Disney in 1940. But she quit after a year because she didn't like it. However, shortly after she departed, Disney was approached by the United States Office of the Co-ordinator of Inter-American Affairs to make films as part of the U.S. government's "Good Neighbor" policy with Latin America. Lee was selected to go with a Disney crew to Latin America and Mary asked if she could go. Disney agreed.

It was on this tour that she developed her classic styles of vibrant color and motion against a flat, modern style. Canemaker writes: Mary Blair was affected by the South American experience more than she ever put into words. In her paintings, she went inside herself to find how it felt, rather than how it looked. To paraphrase Kandinsky, she took ten looks at the canvas, one at the palette, and half a look at nature. Mary Blair's South American art detonated rather than evolved. Suddenly, there it was -- spectacularly rich and special, full of gaiety and color, and a delight to Walt Disney's eye.

From the "Baia" sequence in The Three Caballeros (1945)