Norman Rockwell - Freedom From Want - Assignment Example

Norman Rockwell Painting: Freedom From Want Norman Rockwell gained his popularity as a talented painter and illustrator of American realities and style of life. His works, although depicting common, everyday scenarios cannot but appeal to the audience through a kind of unique magnetism and simplicity of images that make one associate with them. Such is the painting called “Freedom from Want” from the Four Freedom Series. The painting depicts a big family that gathered around a well-served table to have a dinner supposedly on Thanksgiving day.

The whole family is happy, they are smiling, are engaged into conversation with each other and enjoy it. The following makes it possible to assume that they are glad to be together and the family is united. Moreover, it is seen that the family consists of different generations: from children to grandparents, which illustrates that family ties are strong and the older members are respected (grandfather and grandmother are at the head of the table). To my mind, the given picture reflects an idealized picture of an American family, since it seems that relationships within this family have no flaws and there are no signs of misunderstandings, problems, misery, lost, or grief that are common parts of life.

In contrast, happiness and harmony are what seem to reside on that Thanksgiving table. At the same time, it would be wrong to say that the depicted story is not possible in reality, but it rather depicts a model of a family image that is desirable for anyone. At this point, it would be relevant to refer to the words of the author himself as he explained that the view of life he depicts “excludes the sordid and the ugly” – and added- “I pain life as I would like it to be.” (Alexandre 149) Subsequently, Rockwell himself acknowledged that his works are not reflections of reality as he sees it, but of what he would like to see.

Works cited Alexandre, S. The properties of violence : claims to ownership in representations of lynching. University Press of Mississippi, 2012. 149. Print.