June 7 through October 19, 2003

Images that defined America resonate profoundly in the Norman Rockwell Museum’s new exhibition, Freedom: Norman Rockwell’s Vermont Years, on view from June 7, 2003 to November 9, 2003. The second exhibit in a three-part retrospective presented by the Museum that examines Rockwell’s life, work, and the communities in which he lived, Freedom focuses on the years from 1939 to 1953 when Rockwell called Arlington, Vermont, his home. After he left the social swirl of New Rochelle, New York, Rockwell described moving to pastoral Vermont as having “fallen into Utopia.” The peaceful enclave of Arlington offered Rockwell a simpler, quieter life and the comfort and connection of a community of artists and writers. This would set the stage for one of the most important and acclaimed periods in his career.