Freedom from Want
by Norman Rockwell

March 6, 1943 Issue
of The Saturday Evening Post
The Four Freedoms Series

Norman Rockwell's Freedom from Want appeared on the pages of The Saturday Evening Post on March 6, 1943...
(continued)

This painting is also known as Thanksgiving Dinner. This was the third installment of Rockwell's famous Four Freedoms series.

The Four Freedoms paintings were inspired by a speech given before the United States Congress on January 6, 1941 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. 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.

Here is more about Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms, including Freedom from Want.

Norman Rockwell's Freedom from Want
The Thanksgiving Feast

Freedom from Want is one of Norman Rockwell's best loved and most recognized compositions.

Rockwell fussed over this cover a long time before he completed it. He was very concerned that it would convey overabundance instead of freedom from want.

Mrs. Thaddeus Wheaton, the Rockwell family cook, was actually the model for the grandmother serving the turkey. Rockwell was know for using friends and family in his paintings.

Examining this painting, we see a large family gathered around their table for a feast. We presume the occaison is Thanksgiving because of the huge turkey being served. Both the good china and the good silver are on the table.

Children and grandchildren, conversing happily with each other, populate the holiday table on both sides. Grandpa is at the head of the table and has his carving tools ready to slice and serve the mouth-watering bird.

Grandma is placing the turkey in its place. She is still wearing her apron, lest some succulent juices spill and ruin her dress. The turkey appears to be cooked to perfection.

The table extends past the bottom of the canvas, giving the perception that the viewer is actually at the table. The gentleman in the lower right corner of the painting seems to be inviting us to join in the feast.

Norman Rockwell's painting, in addition to invoking emotions associated with family, also induces hunger. It may be time for a sandwich. A turkey sandwich.

This picture is taken from Office of War Information poster OWI Poster Number 45 O-511886.

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