The Four Freedoms: Freedom from Fear

Seventy years ago today, on 13 March 1943, Freedom from Fear, the fourth in Norman Rockwell’s series, The Four Freedoms appeared in the Saturday Evening Post. Rockwell chose as his subject American parents tucking their children in for bed while thinking of the nightly bombings suffered by British civilians (as illustrated by the newspaper headline  in which “Bombings” and “Horror” appear). 

Rockwell spent seven months working on the series and lost fifteen pounds from his rail-thin frame in the duration. The Four Freedoms paintings were part of Rockwell’s personal collection, which he bequeathed as the Norman Rockwell Art Collection Trust to the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

Post by Curator Kimberly Guise.