A Rockwell Thanksgiving

Throughout his brilliant career, Rockwell illustrated 323 covers of The Saturday Evening Post during a nearly five-decade relationship with the magazine. With its traditional Thanksgiving setting, “Freedom from Want”  is one of Rockwell’s “Four Freedom” illustrations that ran in successive issues of The Post in 1943. Using his own Arlington, Vt., neighbors as subjects, the warm, folksy work is widely heralded as one of Rockwell’s most recognizable paintings.

Freedom from Want – Norman Rockwell

Rockwell’s “Home for Thanksgiving” first appeared on the cover of The Post on Nov. 24, 1945. “Rockwell’s initial intention for the Thanksgiving cover of 1945 consisted of a large group of prayerful people giving thanks,” according to the Norman Rockwell Museum website. “With the end of war already in sight, art editor Ken Stuart advised Rockwell to work on a picture of a returned soldier. The gist of Rockwell’s picture is that the soldier is glad to do at home what he hated doing in the Army.” The mother and son in the painting were, in fact, mother and son: Sarah Hagelberg and her boy, Richard, owner of a dairy farm in Arlington. Not only was Richard a WWII veteran, but he also served as Rockwell’s milkman. The original illustration sold for $4.3 million at Heritage Auctions.

Home for Thanksgiving – Norman Rockwell

Norman Rockwell at his easel.

Sweet Treat: Illustration Auctions for $375,000

Not exactly pennies: An original illustration for the “Saturday Evening Post” called “Penny Candy” sold for a sweet $375,000 at a Heritage Auction in November 2022. The artist, Stevan Dohanos, painted more than 125 “Saturday Evening Post” covers in the 1940s and ’50s. His illustrations included baseball games, ice cream, mobile homes, gas stations, children with toys or butterfly collections, barns, and families enjoying all walks of ordinary life. “Penny Candy” was the cover on September 23, 1944. It is considered his best painting. It was owned by one family for more than 40 years. Lots of factors are considered with art such as this, but the top three are condition, artist and the publication.