Freedom to Worship by Norman Rockwell

February 27, 1943 Issue of The Saturday Evening Post:
The Four Freedoms Series

Norman Rockwell's Freedom to Worship was published on the pages of The Saturday Evening Post on February 27, 1943.

This painting was the second installment of Rockwell's famous Four Freedoms series.

The painting was also originally reproduced on a poster promoting the sale of war bonds during World War Two.

Freedom to Worship has also been reproduced in several Rockwell Books: page 121 of The Norman Rockwell Album, illustration 405 of Norman Rockwell's America by Christopher Finch, illustrations 386 of Norman Rockwell: Artist and Illustrator by Thomas Buechner, page 145 of Norman Rockwell: Illustrator by Arthur L. Guptill, page 33 of Norman Rockwell, Storyteller With A Brush, page 83 of The Best 0f Norman Rockwell and page 770 of Norman Rockwell, A Definitive Catalogue by Laurie Norton Moffatt.

The illustration also appears in The Norman Rockwell Poster Book and 50 Norman Rockwell Favorites.

This painting also appears on page 47 of A Treasury of the Saturday Evening Post. A Treasury of the Saturday Evening Post also reproduces the original Post article by Will Durant that was published with the illustration.

The original oil on canvas painting, 46 x 35.5 inches or 117 x 90 cm, is housed in the Norman Rockwell Museum of Stockbridge, Mass.

Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms Paintings

The Four Freedoms paintings were inspired by a speech given before the United States Congress on January 6, 1941 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In that famous and stirring speech, Roosevelt enumerated four basic freedoms to which every person was entitled.

The first was freedom of speech. Second was freedom to worship. Third was freedom from want. Fourth was freedom from fear.

The images and articles were presented in The Saturday Evening Post in the same order as President Roosevelt presented them in his speech.

Norman Rockwell's Hardest Freedom to Paint

Rockwell said that this painting was the hardest to finish of all the Four Freedoms paintings. This was the last of the Four Freedoms to be finished.

His first idea for this painting was a cheerful scene in a barbershop. In it would be different races and creeds, all getting along splendidly. The characters planned and partially painted included a white Protestant barber, a Jewish customer, an Afro-American customer, a Catholic priest and a white Anglo customer.

It wasn't long before people who saw the rough painting were complaining about Rockwell painting the characters as stereotypes. The Catholic priest looked too rough. The Afro-American should have lighter skin. Or darker skin. The Jewish man didn't look like the Jewish viewers wanted him to look. Norman Rockwell started all over from the beginning.

His second and third ideas didn't fare much better.

The Post editors started pressuring him to finish.

Then Rockwell pulled the final idea for Freedom to Worship out of his head. This rendering of the idea was wildly successful.

Freedom to Worship

The painting shows eight people, four women and four men. They are all praying. Each is praying in his or her own way. Some are praying with eyes open, some with eyes closed.

They are illuminated by a soft, golden light emanating from off the left side of the canvas.

Some have their heads bowed, one is looking upward. One holds rosary beads, one holds scripture.

Catholic, Protestant and Jew are all represented in the painting. Black and white are both represented. Freedom of religion is all encompassing.

At the top of the painting, Norman Rockwell has inscribed "EACH ACCORDING TO THE DICTATES OF HIS OWN CONSCIENCE." Rockwell said that he remembered reading it somewhere, but he didn't remember exactly where.

Norman Rockwell's illustration of the right of people to worship as they choose without governmental interference was the most moving of the Four Freedoms series.

This picture was also printed on Office of War Information poster OWI Poster Number 43 O-510256.

The captions on the original war poster read as follows: "Save Freedom to Worship" above and "Buy War Bonds" underneath the illustration.

Norman Rockwell's Freedom to Worship (1943)
Copyright © 1943 Saturday Evening Post & Curtis Publishing Company