The Discovery, 1956

The Discovery was the last of Rockwell's Christmas covers for The Saturday Evening Post. It also signaled the end of Rockwell's portraying life as he thought readers wanted to see it. Unconcerned that he might disclose the myth of Santa Claus to the magazine readers' children, Rockwell portrays the shock a child feels at finding a Santa costume in his father's dresser. Though Rockwell continued to contribute Post covers for another seven years, he no longer painted the Christmas issue.

The Discovery, Norman Rockwell, 1956. Oil on canvas, 35¼" x 32½". Cover illustration for The Saturday Evening Post, December 29, 1956. From the permanent collection of Norman Rockwell Museum.