The irony of her situation wasn’t lost on artist Margaret Keane during last week’s New York premiere of "Big Eyes," the Tim Burton film about her life.

Keane’s haunting portraits of children with large, round eyes were a pop-culture fixture from the late 1950s to the late 1980s but art critics have always been quick to mock the painter.

So when Keane arrived Monday at the Museum of Modern Art, where the premiere was held, the 87-year-old walked the red carpet with a grin.

"Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think one of my paintings would actually be seen in the Museum of Modern Art," said Keane, who lived and painted in Hawaii for 27 years but now calls Napa, Calif., her home. "That’s where they have the Picassos and the Van Goghs."

Of course, Keane was quick to add that none of her paintings actually hung on a MOMA wall, but you could see them in the film — and she said that was better.

"It was a Tim Burton touch to the whole thing," Keane said during a call from a limousine in Manhattan. "The whole thing was out of this world. I couldn’t believe it was happening. I still can’t. I think I will wake up and it will be a dream."

"Big Eyes," key scenes of which were shot in Hawaii last year, stars multiple Oscar nominee Amy Adams as the artist and two-time Oscar winner Christoph Waltz as her ex-husband, Walter Keane. Adams and Waltz each received Golden Globe nominations for their performances and the film received a third nomination, for best original song.

The film follows Margaret Keane’s rise as an artist and the legal dispute she had with Walter Keane, who took credit for her work for many years.

The New York premiere, and especially the red carpet experience, nearly overwhelmed the artist.

"There must have been a hundred photographers and the lights were blinding," she said. "I’ve never experienced anything equal to that. I don’t like to be photographed or talk to people I don’t know so it was kind of torture. But I tried to think of the positive side: It was hundreds of thousands of dollars of publicity for the movie."

That the film was made is something of a miracle. "Big Eyes" was in the works for a decade and suffered two false starts with different actresses — Kate Hudson and Reese Witherspoon — set to play Keane. Then Burton and The Weinstein Co. brought it to life.

The eccentric Hollywood director is known for his dark, quirky fantasies, such as "Beetlejuice," "Edward Scissorhands" and "The Nightmare Before Christmas." But he also collects Keane’s paintings and once commissioned her to paint portraits of his partner, Helena Bonham Carter, and their son.

Keane put her trust in Burton and, with the exception of a few four-letter words, loves the film he created. She’s seen "Big Eyes" three times and said it got better with each screening.

"It’s fantastic," she said. "I don’t know how they could have done a better job. I was in a total state of shock for about two days the first time I saw it. It was an emotional, traumatic experience because it was so real."

Keane said Adams was perfect — "I don’t know how she did it" — but she had even higher praise for the way Waltz brought her ex-husband to the screen.

"Christoph Waltz looked and sounded exactly like Walter," Keane said. "He did such a great job that I think he thinks he did the paintings."

"Big Eyes" opens in theaters Christmas Day.

AND that’s a wrap …

Mike Gordon is the Star-Advertiser’s film and television writer. Read his Outtakes Online blog at honolulupulse.com. Reach him at 529-4803 or email mgordon@staradvertiser.com.