Vacations Blog

A perfectly prepared holiday meal. A flawlessly set table. A smiling family patiently admiring the Thanksgiving turkey as Mother carries it to be carved. This isn’t my house at Thanksgiving and it may not be yours either. It may not even exist except in some illustration of Norman Rockwell, because Rockwell’s Thanksgiving in Freedom from Want is exactly what I was describing.

Freedom from Want is one of four works Rockwell painted in 1943 in his Four Freedoms series. During World War II, posters of the paintings raised $132 million for the war. That amount would equal over $1.5 billion today.

The Norman Rockwell Museum

Four Freedoms and more than 570 additional Rockwell paintings are in the collection of the Normal Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, along with more than 100,000 photographs, letters and other items originally belonging to one of America’s greatest artists and illustrators of the twentieth century. Among these are several of the 321 covers that Rockwell painted for the Saturday Evening Post between 1916 and 1963. Best known for these magazine covers and other depictions of idealistic American life, Rockwell was also commissioned to paint portraits of presidents, international leaders, and entertainers. Rockwell also used his art to depict historic and political events, such as racial integration in Southern schools in 1964’s The Problem We All Live With which was based on the first day of Kindergarten of Ruby Bridges in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1960.

Norman Rockwell's Studio

Located on 136 acres, the museum grounds also include Rockwell’s studio, which was moved to this location from downtown Stockbridge. The studio is arranged exactly as it was when Rockwell worked there.

In addition to exhibitions and programs dedicated to Rockwell, the museum displays works of modern illustrators and other masters of the twentieth century. Like any art museum, young kids’ attention may not be held. For older kids though, especially those interested in illustration and commercial art, Rockwell is a great introduction.

Stockbridge itself, in the Massachusetts Berkshires, is a popular vacation destination any time of year. Hotels and inns, including the famous Red Lion Inn, are often crowded as are area restaurants. For fans of sculpture, another nearby attraction is Chesterwood, home of Daniel Chester French who created the Lincoln Memorial as well as other famous works.

The Norman Rockwell Museum is open daily except for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. Admission is $14 for adults, $12.50 for seniors, $10 for college students, and free for kids 18 and under. Further information concerning hours and admission packages is available at the museum website.

Photos courtesy of Rmrfstar under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic license.